Refinetti is Associate Professor, Salkehatchie Regional Campus, University of South Carolina, 807 Hampton St., Walterboro, SC 29488. .
Rodents are the subjects of the overwhelming majority of laboratory animal studies, and most laboratory rodents are nocturnal. The availability of a suitable diurnal rodent would provide a more effective animal model for biomedical research applicable to humans. The author describes several characteristics of the Nile grass rat that make this diurnal murid rodent an attractive laboratory animal.
