Arizona pocket mouse
Perognathus amplusSummary 1
The Arizona pocket mouse (Perognathus amplus) is a rodent native to the Sonoran desert. It is a small mouse with a thinly furred tail that is smooth from base to tip (i.e. it has no tuft). In color it ranges from tan to orange. It is a nocturnal, burrowing animal. It eats seeds, which it carries back to its burrow in its cheek pouches.
Description 2
Like other heteromyid rodents, Arizona Pocket Mice are solitary creatures. They spend the day in underground burrows, emerging only at night. In the wild, these Mice eat almost exclusively seeds of forbs or woody plants, though in captivity, they avidly consume lettuce and mealworms in addition to seeds. When the weather is cold, the Mice stay in their burrows, reducing their body temperature and metabolism, but rousing occasionally to eat cached seeds. This is not true hibernation, but a condition called torpor. It is a successful strategy to conserve energy while the temperature is too low for them to endure.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Sources and Credits
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perognathus_amplus
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6625337
