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Eurasian harvest mouse

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Harvest Mouse
Temporal range: Late Miocene - Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Rodentia
Superfamily:
Muroidea
Family:
Muridae
Subfamily:
Murinae
Genus:
Micromys

Dehne, 1841
Species:
M. minutus
Binomial name
Micromys minutus
(Pallas, 1771)
Distribution of harvest mice

The Harvest Mouse, Micromys minutus is a small rodent native to Europe and Asia. They are typically found in fields of cereal crops such as wheat and oats as well as long grass and hedgerows. They have reddish-brown fur with white underparts and a naked, highly prehensile tail. An adult has a head and body between five and seven centimeters with a similar length of tail and weighs five to eleven grams. This mouse eats chiefly seeds and insects but also nectar and fruit. Breeding nests are spherical constructions woven from grass and attached to stems high above the ground.

Before the Harvest Mouse had been formally described, Rev. Gilbert White, who sensed that they were an undescribed species, reported their nests in Selborne, Hampshire:[1]

They never enter into houses; are carried into ricks and barns with the sheaves; abound in harvest; and build their nests amidst the straws of the corn above the ground, and sometimes in thistles. They breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little round nest composed of the blades or grass or wheat. One of these nests I procured this autumn, most artificially platted,[2] and composed of the blades of wheat; perfectly round, and about the size of a cricket-ball. It was so compact and well-filled, that it would roll across the table without being discomposed, though it contained eight little mice that were naked and blind.

Conservation efforts have taken place in England as of 2001. Tennis balls used in play at Wimbledon have been recycled to create artificial nests for harvest mice in an attempt to help the species avoid predation and recover from near-threatened status.

See also, Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Description

The Harvest Mouse ranges from 55 to 75 millimeters long, and its tail varies from 50 to 75 millimeters long. Its eyes and ears are relatively large, allowing it to sense slight motions and faint sounds. It has a small nose, with short, stubble-like whiskers. Its fur is thick and soft, and somewhat thicker in winter than in summer.[3]

The upper part of the body is brown, sometimes with a yellow or red tinge, and the under parts range from white to cream colored. It has a prehensile tail that is usually bicolored and furless at the tip, and its feet are usually fairly broad.[3] The mouse's feet are adapted specifically for climbing, with a large outermost toe and somewhat opposable, allowing the mouse to grip stems with each hindfoot and its tail.[3] This frees the mouse's forepaws for food collection. The mouse's tail is also useful for balance.

Notes

  1. ^ White, The Natural History of Selborne, letter xii (4 November 1767).
  2. ^ most artificially platted: "most skillfully braided".
  3. ^ a b c Ivaldi, Francesca. "Micromys minutus". Retrieved 28 May 2009.

References

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