The word Rodent is from the Latin Rodere, meaning “to gnaw.”
Rodents are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws; and because their incisors do not stop growing the animal instinctively gnaws (on whatever is handy) to wear their incisors down. When a rodent has chewed through a wiring harness or other components in a vehicle’s engine, it is simply gnawing on available objects.
While there are more than 2,000 species of rodents, the rodents that are most likely to occupy a vehicle’s engine include mice, rats, squirrels, and chipmunks (though larger rodents have also been known to occupy and damage vehicles).
