white-footed mouse
Peromyscus leucopus
Summary 3
The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) is a rodent native to North America from Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, and the Maritime Provinces (excluding the island of Newfoundland) to the southwest USA and Mexico. In the Maritimes, its only location is a disjunct population in southern Nova Scotia. It is also known as the woodmouse, particularly in Texas.
Description 4
The White-footed Mouse has a very wide distribution. It is the most abundant rodent in mixed deciduous and coniferous forests in the eastern United States, and is probably equally abundant near farms. Its habitat preferences are very different in southern Mexico, however, as it prospers in semi-desert vegetation. White-footed Mice are excellent swimmers, and so are able to colonize islands in lakes with relative ease. They are not agricultural pests, and they are important ecologically because owls, weasels, snakes, and many other predators eat them. Individuals may live several years in captivity, but an almost complete turnover occurs annually in wild populations. In some places they carry the tick that transmits Lyme disease.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Sources and Credits
- (c) Patrick Coin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/42264328@N00/4691331213
- (c) Patrick Coin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/4691331213_ae5d3bc7a9.jpg
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peromyscus_leucopus
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6625386
