|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Deer Mouse |
|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Genus: | Peromyscus |
| Species: | maniculatus |
|
|
|
Description |
| The Deer Mouse has sparkling eyes, a gray to reddish brown coat, and a white stomach. It has a very long tail, brown on top and white on bottom. The Deer Mouse is about 3-4 inches long, with a tail 2-5 inches long. |
|
|
|
Habitat |
| Deer Mice live in woodlands, fields, grasslands, and prairies. These mice do not like wetlands. They usually make their nests in cavities found in trees, a tree stump, under rocks, in abandoned squirrel nests, in burrows, soil cracks, trash or other safe places. They line their nests with moss, tree bark, leaves and other soft materials. |
|
|
|
Range |
| The Deer Mouse is found in the South Eastern states, North Canada to Mexico. They also live all over the United States. On the map above the pink shows where the Deer Mouse lives in the U.S. |
|
|
|
Food |
| Deer mice eat many types of food. They eat many kinds of berries, seeds such as acorns also fruit and even small insects. |
|
|
|
Life Cycle |
| The Deer Mouse can be born as early as March or late into November with as many as four litters per year. They can have as many as 2-7 young per litter. Deer Mice grow fast and are weaned by the age of three weeks. They can bread at the age of 5-6 weeks. Deer Mice rarely live long in the wild (about 1 year.) |
|
|
|
Survival |
| A few important things the Deer Mouse needs for its survival is a place to get food and a place to build a nest. The place where they build a nest is very important. They need a place to raise their young away from predators. A few predators of the Deer Mouse are the owl, the bobcat, the wolf and other common predators. |
|
|
|
Facts |
| Three interesting facts about my animal are:
1. The Deer Mouse and the White Tailed Mouse share the same habitat. 2. They are called Deer Mice because their coat is the same color as a deer's. 3. The Deer Mouse's tail is dark on top and white on the bottom. |
|
|
|
Human Impact |
| If there is a human impact on the Deer Mouse it is very small. They don't seem to care about how close they are to humans because they have been known to go into peoples houses. Also, humans do not hunt mice so they are not effected by hunters. But humans might have an effect on them because of buildings and roads have been wrecking their natural habitat. |
|
|
|
References |
| Books:
Dr. George McKay. MAMMALS. San Francisco: Fog City Press Co. 2000 Online Sources: WNC Nature Center. Deer Mouse. 2002. www.WildWNC.org |
|
|
|
Links http://lupus.northern.edu:90/natsource/MAMMALS/Deermi2.htm http://www.yahooligians.com/content/animals/spieces/3967.html www.google.com then type in Deer Mice All pictures from google image search at www.images.google.com graphics from www.grsites.com
|
Click Here to go to the Odyssey Home page
Click
Here to go to our Student Index
|
For comments or questions contact Bill Wight at billw@sbschools.net
|
Scott's Mammal Web Page: The Deer
Mouse
