Most rodents are small animals with robust bodies, short limbs, and long tails. To prevent pest and property issues, rodent control measures are particularly important. They use their sharp incisors to gnaw food, excavate burrows, and defend themselves. Most eat seeds or other plant material, but some have more varied diets. They tend to be social animals and many species live in societies with complex ways of communicating with each other. Mating among rodents can vary from monogamy, to polygymy, to promiscuity. Many have litters of underdeveloped, altirical young, while others are relatively well developed at birth.