Dainty fat mouse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Dainty fat mouse |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Steatomys
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| Species: |
cuppedius
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The dainty fat mouse (Steatomys cuppedius) is a small rodent that belongs to the Nesomyidae family. You can find this mouse in parts of West Africa, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. It naturally lives in dry areas with shrubs, which is called shrubland.
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What Does the Dainty Fat Mouse Look Like?
The dainty fat mouse is quite small. Its body, from head to where its tail starts, is about 7.8 to 9.3 centimeters (about 3 to 3.7 inches) long. Its tail adds another 4.1 to 5 centimeters (about 1.6 to 2 inches) to its length. This little mouse weighs between 14 and 24 grams (about 0.5 to 0.8 ounces).
It has a light sandy-brown fur color. A unique feature of this mouse is that it always has eight nipples.
How to Tell it Apart from Other Fat Mice
There are three types of fat mice in West Africa. The dainty fat mouse is one of them.
- Northwestern fat mouse: The dainty fat mouse is smaller and lighter in color than the northwestern fat mouse (Steatomys caurinus). It also has a longer tail compared to its body size.
- Jackson's fat mouse: Jackson's fat mouse (Steatomys jacksoni) lives in different areas, only in southern Ghana and southern Nigeria. It also has twelve nipples, which is more than the dainty fat mouse's eight.
Where the Dainty Fat Mouse Lives
The dainty fat mouse makes its home in tropical West Africa. Its living area stretches from Senegal, across southern Mali, Burkina Faso, southern Niger, northern Benin, and into northwestern Nigeria. It usually lives in places that are between 200 and 600 meters (about 650 to 2,000 feet) above sea level. Its favorite place to live is grassy areas that have some shrubs.
Is the Dainty Fat Mouse Endangered?
The dainty fat mouse is not very common, and its numbers can change a lot from year to year. However, it lives across a very wide area, and scientists believe there are many of them in total. It also lives in several protected areas, which helps keep it safe.
In some parts of its home range, people use this mouse as a food source. But this activity does not seem to harm the overall population much. Because of these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the dainty fat mouse as a "least concern" species. This means it is not currently at risk of disappearing.
