Kingdom Animalia Order Rodentia Genus Millardia Higher classification Millardia | Phylum Chordata Family Muridae Scientific name Millardia meltada Rank Species | |
Similar Millardia, Rodent, Mammal, Asiatic long‑tailed climbing, Little Indian field mouse | ||
My natal multimammate mice african soft furred rat behavioural changes with age
The soft-furred rat (Millardia meltada), or soft-furred metad, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
Contents
Description
Head and body length is 13–16 cm. Tail ss 12–14 cm. Yellowish to brownish gray dorsally and whitish in the undeparts. Tail naked, blackish above, paler beneath. Fine dense fur shorter ventrally. Many shortish whiskers. Males are larger.
Its grey in color with a white belly, the tail is sparsely haired with visible annular rings and the tail constitutes over 80% of head and body. It lives in burrows usually located in bunds at the edges of the fields It is roughly distributed from Balochistan to N.W.F.P and parts of southern Punjab. It is nocturnal not particularly colonial, insects form a significant part of its diet. It also feeds upon wheat, rice and sugar cane. It’s fossorial specie. It occurs in tropical and sub tropical dry deciduous forests, tropical grasslands, irrigated croplands and grasslands with gravel. Agriculture lands, water courses, embankments, dry rocky hills. It has been found to occupy gravelly areas, bunds of fields and largely cultivated areas
In culture
Soft furred rat is known as කෙස්මුදු කෙත් මීයා in Sinhala language.