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Project Noah Nature School
Peromyscus sp.
These cute mice were about 5-7 cm long (excluding tails), had black eyes, pale pink noses, rounded ears, and a white ventral surface.
Habitat: Found in a map box at a nature center. A month or so ago, someone put an old, empty bird's nest in this box. Today, we found these two mice in the box. They had gotten in through a small opening in the side of the hinged box, had rearranged the bird's nest, and made a cozy home for themselves.
These mice are either Peromyscus leucopus or Peromyscus maniculatus. I think they are most likely Peromyscus leucopus, but can't tell for sure without closer inspection.
Spotted on Oct 3, 2018
Submitted on Oct 12, 2018
11 Comments
Thanks so much for the SOTD and for the comments <3
Congrats Christine Y. for the SOTD!
Super cute felows Christine :-) congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
Congratulations Christine, these mice are our Spotting of the Day:
"A mouse (Peromyscus sp.) finds a comfy home in an old empty bird nest in our Spotting of the Day! Mice in the genus Peromyscus are found throughout North America, and include deer mice (P. maniculatus) and white footed mice (P. leucopus). While similar in appearance to the house mouse (Mus musculus), Peromyscus sp. are more closely related to hamsters than to Mus. Peromyscus shared a last common ancestor with Mus and Rattus (rats) approximately 25 million years ago. Peromyscus sp. may carry hantaviruses (which cause serious diseases in humans) and the Lyme disease-causing spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi".
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Indeed I couldn't resist them ;-)
@ Jim, lol, yes - the nature center actually made a new box for maps!
@Michael, I can relate! They made my day when I saw them! My son actually found them - he opened the box and yelled that there were chipmunks in the box, lol. I went over and saw that the "chipmunks" were actually mice! Cute :)
Looks like the maps need to be stored somewhere else. Hope these mice can stay. Nice spotting, Christine.
Made my night.. what cute little guys
My sentiment exactly, @Danièle!
I can't resist a cute rodent :-)
Thanks Lauren, they certainly were!
Adorable!