Merriam's pocket mouse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Merriam's pocket mouse |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Perognathus
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| Species: |
merriami
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The Merriam's pocket mouse (Perognathus merriami) is a small rodent that belongs to the family Heteromyidae. You can find these tiny mice in parts of northeast Mexico and in the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas in the United States. They like to live in places with short grassy fields, desert areas with bushes, and dry shrublands. This mouse is named after Clinton Hart Merriam, a famous biologist.
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About the Merriam's Pocket Mouse
The Merriam's pocket mouse is a small animal with soft, silky fur.
How Big Are They?
Adult mice are usually about 115 millimeters (about 4.5 inches) long, including their tail. Their tail is about 65 millimeters (about 2.5 inches) long. But their size and color can be a bit different depending on where they live.
What Do They Look Like?
These mice are generally yellowish. They have a dark, shiny look because the longer hairs on their body have black tips. Their belly, legs, and feet are white or creamy. The underside of their tail is lighter in color. They also have dark lines on the sides of their face and a light ring around their eyes. You might also spot a white spot on the inside of their ear, a white patch under the ear, and a small tan patch behind it.
Life of a Pocket Mouse
Merriam's pocket mice are mostly active at night. They spend their days resting in a shallow burrow.
Home Sweet Burrow
These mice dig their homes using their front paws and push the dirt backward with their back feet. They spread the extra dirt on the ground around the entrance. Their burrows have short side tunnels. Some of these tunnels are used for their droppings, and others are for storing seeds.
A single mouse might have several burrows in its home area. Sometimes, they hide under rocks or fallen mesquite trees. The entrance to a burrow is often found at the bottom of a clump of grass or another plant. The plant's roots help keep the dirt stable. When the mouse is inside, it often plugs the entrance loosely with soil. One of their burrows will have a special nest chamber. This chamber has food stored around its edges and a nest made of grass, small twigs, and husks on one side.
Reproduction and Family Life
In Texas, Merriam's pocket mice usually have babies between March and November. A mother mouse typically has three to six babies in one litter. They can have more than one litter of babies in a year.
What Do They Eat?
Merriam's pocket mice mainly eat seeds. They carry the seeds back to their burrow in special pouches in their cheeks. They eat the seeds there, leaving the empty husks on the floor. If they have extra food, they store it in special rooms inside their burrow. They might also eat some green plants and insects.
These mice don't need to drink water. They get all the water they need from their food. They also produce very small amounts of super concentrated urine. In a lab, one Merriam's pocket mouse lived for four years just on seeds and no water! But in the wild, they usually live for about 22 to 33 months.
Staying Safe
Even though they are small, Merriam's pocket mice have predators. Sometimes, a northern grasshopper mouse might eat a Merriam's pocket mouse if they are caught together. Larger predators include the barn owl (Tyto alba), the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), the long-eared owl (Asio otus), the loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), and gray foxes.
Winter Sleep
When temperatures drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit), Merriam's pocket mice can become torpid. This means their body temperature and activity slow down a lot. In some parts of Texas, they might even become dormant or hibernate during the winter. If you catch one on a cold night, it might seem dead in the morning, but it will usually recover quickly once it warms up.
Are They Safe?
The Merriam's pocket mouse lives in a wide area, including some protected places. Scientists believe there are many of them in total. They are common in some spots, but their numbers can be spread out. Their population seems to be stable, and there are no major threats known to them right now. Because of this, the IUCN has listed them as being of "least concern". This means they are not currently in danger of disappearing.
