Cairo spiny mouse

The Cairo spiny mouse, Acomys cahirinus, is a nocturnal rodent of the family Muridae that lives in Africa north of the Sahara, where it favours rocky areas and hot deserts. Adults reach a head and body length of about 95 to 127 millimetres, with a tail of similar length, and weigh roughly 43 to 85 grams. The fur is sandy-brown or greyish-brown above and whitish beneath, with a line of spine-like bristles along the ridge of the back. It is omnivorous, taking seeds, nuts, fruit, green leaves, insects, spiders, molluscs and carrion, and it lives in burrows or rock crevices in small social groups with a dominant male. Females carry their young for five to six weeks, long for a mouse, and the adults of a group cooperate in caring for them. It is the first known rodent to show spontaneous decidualization and menstruation, which has made it a research animal. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern.