How are certain animals determined as Rodents?

As in, why would a specific animal be called a rodent (physical characteristics, behaviors, etc)?How are certain animals determined as Rodents?
Classification is the arrangement of objects, ideas, or information into groups, the members of which have one or more characteristics in common. Animals can be classified based on their similarities.





Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously-growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing.





Forty-percent of mammal species are rodents, and they are found in vast numbers on all continents other than Antarctica. Common rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, gophers, porcupines, beavers, hamsters, gerbils, and guinea pigs. Rodents have sharp incisors that they use to gnaw wood, break into food, and bite predators. Most eat seeds or plants, though some have more varied diets. Some species have historically been pests, eating human seed stores and spreading disease.





Weasels and Mink are mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family, meat eaters and canine teeth.How are certain animals determined as Rodents?
Despite their great species diversity, all rodents share common features. Rodents have a single pair of incisors in each jaw, and the incisors grow continually throughout life. The incisors have thick enamel layers on the front but not on the back; this causes them to retain their chisel shape as they are worn down. Behind the incisors is a large gap in the tooth rows, or diastema; there are no canines, and typically only a few molars at the rear of the jaws. Rodents gnaw with their incisors by pushing the lower jaw forward, and chew with the molars by pulling the lower jaw backwards. In conjunction with these chewing patterns, rodents have large and complex jaw musculature, with modifications to the skull and jaws to accommodate it. Like some other mammal taxa, but unlike rabbits and other lagomorphs, male rodents have a baculum (penis bone).
Rodents have large front teeth.


I always thought guinea pigs were rodents................


i think i was wrong.
It is all about their teeth.


Weasel,gerbil,rat,chipmunk,fisher,mink鈥?are of the genus rodentia.