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Name : vulgar degu ( Octodon degus )
Where it lives : Central Chile
Common degus live in complex underground tunnels with up to 10 others.
What it eats : pasturage , seeds , bark — and sometimes their own after part
Why it ’s awe-inspiring : At around 10 to 12 inches ( 25 to 31 centimeters ) long with brown fur , degus look like oversizedhamsterswith long poop . These round rodent are endemic to the Chilean Matorral realm in South America , where they live in complex underground tunnels with as many as 10 other degus .
And within these degu society , pee is of overriding importance .
These sociable beast practice urine in several challenging way , including to bathe . To get unobjectionable , degus rolling around in sandsoaked with their own urine . Degus also use water to aroma mark their communal trail and dominion .
Their pee reflect ultraviolet ( ultraviolet light ) Christ Within — – which plebeian degus are able to see . This enable them to distinguish societal spicy spots and district , as well as other degus that have urine on their fur . Fresh degu urine reflects ultraviolet illumination Light Within more strongly than older urine . According to a2003 study , degus can employ their ultraviolet illumination imaginativeness to distinguish between fresh and old urine St. Mark , which help oneself them locate where others have been and where social activity is materialize .
Unlike many other little rodents such as hamsters and chinchilla — which are nocturnal — degus are active during the daylight and eternal sleep at night .
— Turkey marauder : The raspberry that vomits dose up to 10 feet and poops antiseptic onto its stage
— Killer squirrel have make grow taste for flesh — and voles are running for their lives — Patagonian mara : The monogamous gnawer that pair only a few times a twelvemonth but pee on each other invariably
They ’ve also got a nifty leak tactics to flee predators . If caught , common degus promptly come off their tails — a trick call " degloving " — which create a distraction and gives the degus a prospect to escape . However , the butt do n’t grow back , so this is a one - time magic .
As extremely sociable animals , common degus communicate in many different ways and can make up to15 different sound . They confabulate their teeth when they are frustrated , squeak when they are scared , and make high - pitch warbling and barking sound when excited . Degu mothers also makespecific paternal callswhen they are nurse their vernal , which is thought to stimulate and reenforce feeding .
