While we like to believe that every animal is the same, the vast majority of them have odd quirks or unique ways of doing things that separate them from other species of animals on the planet. This is especially true in the mating habits of animals. Human beings are quite unique in the way that they go through a courtship with one another to enable the process of reproduction, but there are other animals that have a courtship period. Some animals even bond together, like swans, and will spend the rest of their lives together in less one passes on before the other. It’s a romance of sorts.
While there are different characteristics related to the way that rodents go about their mating habits, there are some similarities as well. However, it is the differences that make them a bit more unique than what you would find in other species of animals like this.
Take for example the raccoon. This animal will protect its area so that any females that are within the region it has established in its own are his. He will battle to get rid of any competitor who was attempting to mate with females within his area, and will be the only one who will copulate with her or with the various females in the area.
This is not true of rats at all. In fact, rats live in large colonies. This means that when a female is ovulating several different rats will actually made with her. In fact, she will continue to mate even after copulation has successfully resulted in the formation of a group of babies. It’s just the mating habit of these animals, which is in stark contrast to what you see with the raccoon.
Squirrels are solitary animals for the most part, and a female will usually only mate with one male. However, if it is the wintertime then it can be an entirely different process. While squirrels live on their own for the most part, during the wintertime they have been known to live in groups for protection, assurance of food, and warmth. It is during this time that a female will frequently mate with many males at one time, if there are many that are present in the den they are living in. Another oddity about the rodent world.
The larger size rodents, such as the raccoon and the possum, will mate but once a year. This usually occurs in March or April just as spring is upon them. However, a rat can reproduce several times a year. This is why a rat population can go from four or five to hundreds in a very short duration of time. Other kinds of rodents, like the squirrel, also made once a year, but there are instances where certain species of squirrels will mate in the early spring and in the fall.
As you can see, there is no clear pattern that is common among every rodent you will find. They all have their own oddities which makes them unique.
Read more:
Rat Control,
Get Rats Out of the Attic,
Rat Trapping,
Rats in the Ceiling,
Rat Feces.
