Wednesday, July 24, 2013

deer mouse ~ 07/24/13 ~ Wilder Ranch


posted 08/01/13 - Even though it's dead, this mouse is pretty cute.  I thought it'd be easy to ID, but I was unaware of how many different kinds of mice there are.  Ignorantly based on the short tail length, I'm ruling out all kangaroo mice (not that they're found near here anyways) and pocket mice (Chaetodipus and Perognathus spp.) in the Heteromyidae family.  That leaves me with the extensive Muridae family. Erg. My only online land mammal references are the Smithsonian and the American Society of Mammologists, which are not very helpful in figuring out an ID, only confirming if you already know what you're looking at.  My CA field guides aren't much help, either.  My best wild guess is a juvenile deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus).  Can you ID?

I have to say, I'm feeling a little like this mouse right now.  I had a spectacular spill off my bicycle on Tuesday.  Andy claims I tumbled 20 feet downhill.  With a grade 2 shoulder AC separation and a badly road-rashed knee, I won't be going out for a while.  Bummer.

ps 08/03/13 - I've added in the ID with links under the picture.  Ken confirmed the ID in the comments.

8 comments:

Imperfect and Tense said...

Oh no!

Sympathies to you and the mouse.

Did the scarf come in handy as a temporary sling/bandage?

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Best Wishes from all at TT

Joe said...

Sorry to hear about your biking spill. Best wishes on your recovery.

DavidDavid said...

Pocket Mouse? http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/tag/pocket-mouse/
Looks a bit like Deer Mousy sans Long Tail and Big Ears...

randomtruth said...

You have it right Katie - juvie deer mouse, P. maniculatus.

But for the record - there are k-rats here, Dipodomys venustus venustus, the Santa Cruz K-rat, a species of special concern.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Thanks for the well wishes, Graeme and Joe. The medics would not let me move until I got to the hospital for x-rays, so no make-shift slings. Typing one-handed is starting to become tiresome, but is definitely more decipherable than my left-handed handwriting. 6 more weeks to go...

David, I still think I should read up on other mice, like pocket mice.

Hey, Ken. I always like a man who agrees with me. My queries were for mouse, not rat, so I never even considered k-rats. Is there a delineation for what gets called a mouse vs. a rat? Amount of hair on its tail? Herbivore vs. omnivore?

randomtruth said...

Sorry - thought you were looking at Families. Heteromyidae is the Family that includes the k-mice, k-rats and pocketmice. All have cheek pouches. But as you say, there are no k-mice around here - Great Basin only. There are Chaetodipus californicus pocketmice, however.

There's also the jumping mice, Dipodidae, but there aren't any species here. Marin County, Sierras...

As for mouse v rat - I don't think there's any convention. Many of the common names were in use before sci naming. But I'd bet size plays into the common names - small animals were mice, larger ones rats. And then there's Euro influences. For example, a rodent from Northern Africa very similar to the k-rat, and that's often called a "desert rat," is popular as a pet - the gerbil.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Again, thanks, Ken! Other than the gerbil reference, did you get your information (esp. sp. range) from that UC Press Jameson & Peeters Mammals of CA book you recommended?

randomtruth said...

Yes, J&P is always the first grab - it has all the CA species with range maps and keys.

But I also have a number of other resources for rodents, as I'm hoping to start a project soon to try and re-document the SC k-rat in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. It hasn't been surveyed since Grinnell in 1920.