Pam Kelley, aye 14, of Montgomery, Alabama, for her question:

What is the Lagomornha animal category?

A more common term for the same group is Duplicidentata, which sounds at least as complicated as Lagomorpha. The category or suborder includes the hates, rabbits and pikas. The term LaQomorpha is coined from an older word for the high jumping hates. The term Dupiicidenta identifies a special feature that all these animals share. It is coined from older words meaning., double, or duplicated teeth.

The duplicidentate animals are rodents, remarkable for those front gnawing teeth that never stop growing. Other rodents have but one pair of these special incisors. Those in the Lagamorpha category have two pairs of rodent teeth in their upper jaws. The front pair is larger and does most of the work. Behind them is a smaller second pair, which also keeps on growing as long as a duplicidentate animal lives.