You’ll notice that Little Robber, the Cotton Rat, is in a different family from Robber, the Brown Rat, as you look at our animal cards. Why is that? Read until the very end to find out why this Burgess Animal is in a different family! Check out the information below to find out more:
Here are some answers, but there is even more to discover about each question so don’t let your discussion stop with these answers! There is even more to learn about the Cotton Rat!
Here’s a few more facts about them:
Robber the Brown Rat is in the family Muridae because he is an Old World rat. Do you remember, they are called the Norway Rat because they came over to the Americas on the ships of explorers and immigrants. Little Robber is a Cotton Rat and a part of the family Cricetidae, which is a New World family for rats and mice. New World animals are from North and South America, while Old World animals are from Asia, Africa, and Australia. Now you know a little bit more about how families are established in the Kingdom of Animalia, as a part of the Classification of Living things!
Until next time, keep investigating animals! <3 Kate
Find The Burgess Animal Writing & Coloring Pages here.
Works Consulted:
Burgess, Thornton W. “A Trader and a Handsome Fellow.” The Burgess Animal Book for Children, Dover Publications, 2004, p. 92.
“Cotton Rats (Genus Sigmodon).” iNaturalist, iNaturalist, 7 May 2025, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/44893-Sigmodon.