Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that protect against predators. The term covers two families of animals, the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of quills: despite this, the two groups are distinct from each other and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi.
Caviidae, the cavy family, is composed of rodents native to South America and includes the domestic guinea pig, wild cavies, and the largest living rodent, the capybara. They are found across South America in open areas from moist savanna to thorn forests or scrub desert. This family of rodents has fewer members than most other rodent families, with 19 species in 6 genera in 3 subfamilies.
An orthohantavirus is a single-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA virus in the Hantaviridae family of the order Bunyavirales. These viruses normally infect rodents, but do not cause disease in them. Humans may become infected with hantaviruses through contact with rodent urine, saliva, or feces. Some strains cause potentially fatal diseases in humans, such as hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), also known as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), while others have not been associated with known human disease. HPS (HCPS) is a "rare respiratory illness associated with the inhalation of aerosolized rodent excreta contaminated by hantavirus particles."
The pacarana is a rare and slow-moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America. Native peoples of the region call it the pacarana because it is superficially similar to the paca, a different rodent which is not in the same family. The pacarana has a chunky body and is large for a rodent, weighing up to 15 kg (33 lb) and measuring up to 79 cm (31 in) in length, not including the thick, furry tail.
The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, gerbils, and many other relatives. They occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the subfamilies are related to one another. The following taxonomy is based on recent well-supported molecular phylogenies.
"De Brevitate Vitae", more commonly known as "Gaudeamus Igitur" or just "Gaudeamus", is a popular academic commercium song in many European countries, mainly sung or performed at university and high-school graduation ceremonies. Despite its use as a formal graduation hymn, it is a jocular, light-hearted composition that pokes fun at university life. The song is thought to originate in a Latin manuscript from 1287. It is in the tradition of carpe diem with its exhortations to enjoy life. It was known as a beer-drinking song in many early universities and is the official song of many schools, colleges, universities, institutions, student societies and is the official anthem of the International University Sports Federation.
The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, and has members throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The Laotian rock rat or kha-nyou, sometimes called the "rat-squirrel", is a rodent species of the Khammouan region of Laos. The species was first described in a 2005 article by Paulina Jenkins and coauthors, who considered the animal to be so distinct from all living rodents, they placed it in a new family, Laonastidae. It is in the monotypic genus Laonastes.
Caviomorpha is the rodent infraorder or parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now accepted as a genuine part of the rodents. Caviomorphs include the extinct Heptaxodontidae and extant families of chinchilla rats, hutias, guinea pigs and the capybara, chinchillas and viscachas, tuco-tucos, agoutis, pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats, New World porcupines, coypu and octodonts.
The Hystricognathi are an infraorder of rodents, distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls. The masseter medialis passes partially through the infraorbital foramen and connects to the bone on the opposite side. This, together with their lack of an infraorbital plate and the relative size of the infraorbital foramen, distinguishes hystricognaths from other rodent groups.
Sciuromorpha ("squirrel-like") is a rodent clade that includes several different rodent families. It includes all members of the Sciuridae as well as the mountain beaver species.
The blesmols, also known as mole-rats, or African mole-rats, are burrowing rodents of the family Bathyergidae. They represent a distinct evolution of a subterranean life among rodents much like the pocket gophers of North America, the tuco-tucos in South America, or the Spalacidae.
The term Hystricomorpha has had many definitions throughout its history. In the broadest sense, it refers to any rodent with a hystricomorphous zygomasseteric system. This includes the Hystricognathi, Ctenodactylidae, Anomaluridae, and Pedetidae. Molecular and morphological results suggest the inclusion of the Anomaluridae and Pedetidae in Hystricomorpha may be suspect. Based on Carleton & Musser 2005, these two families are treated here as representing a distinct suborder Anomaluromorpha.
The Gaudeamus Foundation and Contemporary Music Center organizes and promotes contemporary musical activities and concerts in the Netherlands and abroad. It focuses on supporting the career development of young composers and musicians, particularly Dutch, through its library facilities, contacts with international organizations, and its own activities. Gaudeamus was founded at Bilthoven, the Netherlands, in 1945 by Walter A. F. Maas, a Jewish immigrant from Mainz. It was originally headquartered in the Huize Gaudeamus, a villa built in the shape of a grand piano by the composer Julius Röntgen, also an immigrant from Germany but two generations older. Although in 2008 the Gaudeamus Foundation was incorporated into the Muziek Centrum Nederland, as from 2011 it continues to operate independently.
The Gaudeamus International Interpreters Award has been offered since 1963 by the Gaudeamus Foundation to outstanding young performers winning the International Gaudemus Competition for Interpreters of Contemporary Music. The competition provides an opportunity for performers of contemporary music to meet other musicians from all over the world. During the festival workshops, master classes and concerts take place.
Eomyidae is a family of extinct rodents from North America and Eurasia related to modern day pocket gophers and kangaroo rats. They are known from the Middle Eocene to the Late Miocene in North America and from the Late Eocene to the Pleistocene in Eurasia. Eomyids were generally small, but occasionally large, and tended to be squirrel-like in form and habits. The family includes the earliest known gliding rodent, Eomys quercyi.
Geoff Hannan is a British composer and musician born in London in 1972 to Irish parents. He studied composition privately with Michael Finnissy from 1987 to 1990 before reading Music at the University of Manchester. in 2006 he was awarded a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, where, with financial assistance from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, he studied composition with film composer Brian Lock.
The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is a European award issued by the Gaudeamus Foundation. The prize is awarded at an annual ceremony in the Netherlands to a young composer competing in the highly competitive Gaudeamus Music Week.
Christopher Trapani is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow. In 2007 he won the Gaudeamus Award of the Dutch Gaudeamus Foundation.
