Mammals of Fort Bowie NHS

Antelope Jackrabbits are nocturnal and crepuscular, and almost never vocalize. They are probably the fastest runners of their genus, with a top speed of 72 km per hour. They flash their white rumps somewhat as pronghorns do when they are running. Their ears are white on the outside, and longer than average. Typical of hares, and in contrast to rabbits, Antelope Jackrabbits give birth to well-developed young who are fully furred, with their eyes open, and able to hop.

Adaptation: As seen from the front and side, the spool-like shape of the main gliding surface of the elbow of the Antelope Jackrabbit, Lepus alleni, controls the movement of the forearm so that it can easily flex and extend but not twist. This is an adaptation to cursorial locomotion similar to what is found among other, very distantly related, running mammals.

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Black-tailed Jackrabbits are tremendous leapers, able to jump more than 6 m horizontally. They live in some of the hottest and driest regions of the continent, can survive on poor-quality foods, and get most or all of the water they need from their food. Where they can, they eat green vegetation, but they can survive in parts of the Southwest where creosote-bush forms a large part of their diet. They cope with extreme heat by lowering their metabolism and resting in the shade during the day, which conserves water. They get rid of extra salt through their urine, and blood flows close to the skin in their enormous ears, a cooling mechanism. Although mostly nocturnal and solitary, large groups sometimes form near a good food supply. With their typically high reproductive output, Black-tails can be agricultural pests, and there were periods in the 1800s and 1900s when aggressive rabbit drives herded and destroyed 5,000-6,000 animal in a single day. In spite of this, they are quite common and widespread.

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"Living well below sea level in Death Valley and also in woodland and grassland up to 2,000 m elevation, Desert Cottontails are able to tolerate diverse habitats. They are most active at dawn and dusk, and spend hot days resting in a burrow or in a ""hide,"" which is a shallow depression in the ground or in vegetation. Like all rabbits, they are vegetarians, feeding on grasses, shrubs, and forbs. They also eat acorns. When they can, they forage under shrubs, and when they venture out from under shelter, they move cautiously, and freeze when alarmed. They breed year-round, and mature quickly: breeding is seen in individuals as young as three months of age."

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"Pocket gophers dig with their front claws and with their teeth. A pocket gopher can close its mouth behind its front teeth, so it can dig without getting a mouthful of dirt. Its ""pockets"" are fur-lined, external cheek pouches, one on each side of its mouth, which it uses to transport food. Botta's Pocket Gopher has an extremely broad geographic range, and individuals vary widely in appearance: they can be nearly white, gray, brown, or blackish-brown. They vary in size, too. Males are larger than females. Males grow throughout their lives, whereas females stop growing after their first pregnancy, so older males can be much larger than females. Pocket gophers live in small, local populations, spending almost their entire lives underground in their network of burrows."

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"Bailey's Pocket Mice are solitary, nocturnal, and live in burrows. Pocket Mice mostly eat seeds, using their ""pockets,"" fur-lined, external cheek pouches, to bring seeds to their nests, where they store them in preparation for leaner times. The fur lining of the cheek pouches in members of the family Heteromyidae is an adaptation for desert life: the seeds the rodents carry do not absorb body water the way they would if they were carried in the mouth. Bailey's Pocket Mouse is the only Sonoran desert rodent able to eat jojoba seeds, which are toxic to most mammals."

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"""Hispid"" refers to the coarseness of this pocket mouse's fur. Hispid Pocket Mice are larger and more robust than other pocket mice in their range, and like the others, they are solitary except in the breeding season. The gestation period is not known, but females in the northern part of the range may have two litters of 4-7 young a year. In the southern part of the range, mating activity has been seen year-round."

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As their name indicates, Rock Pocket Mice dwell in rocky habitats, and only rarely live in areas with sandy or silty soils. Their inconspicuous burrows are located near or under rocks, in rocky gulches or canyons, or near boulders. The mouse pictured is sitting on a lava rock, probably in New Mexico, and the color of its fur blends with the dark rock. This is typical of pocket mice - their color often matches the background color of their habitat. Rock Pocket Mice breed from February or March through July, and young have been seen from April through August.

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The Desert Pocket Mouse is a common inhabitant of warm deserts throughout the United States and Mexico. It prefers sandy soil and avoids rocky settings, and like other pocket mice, comes out at night to search for seeds. It favors large seeds such as palo verde and mesquite, and uses the shrubs as shelter and protection from predators such as owls while it forages. In winter, these pocket Mice lower their body temperature and enter a state of inactivity known as torpor. They wake occasionally to nibble on the food they have stored. This saves energy and helps them get through the winter.

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"Like all members of the family Heteromyidae, Merriam's Kangaroo Rat is found only in the New World. Many kangaroo rats have rather specific habitat preferences, but Merriam's Kangaroo Rat is not one of these. It can inhabit arid regions where the ground is predominantly rocks, gravel, sand, or clay. Like other kangaroo rats (and kangaroo mice), it specializes in bipedal locomotion, which means that it usually moves around by hopping on two feet, like a chubby little kangaroo. The hindquarters of kangaroo rats and mice are strong and well developed to support this method of locomotion. Some kangaroo rats can leap 2 m (more than 6 feet) at a single bound."

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"By occupying the short grass prairie of the Great Plains, and a variety of habitats where there are fine-textured, sandy soils, Ord's Kangaroo Rat has managed a truly enormous geographic distribution. The varied habitats that it occupies include semi-arid grasslands, mixed-grasslands, and scrublands. This ecological variation, together with the considerable geographic range, has contributed to the fact that more than 30 subspecies have been named. Ord's Kangaroo Rats are most active on cloudy nights. They usually stay in their burrows in bad weather and especially on clear, moonlit nights when owls can spot them most easily. Other predators include foxes, coyotes, badgers, and long-tailed weasels."

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"The Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat confines its activities to small areas near the large earthen mounds that contain its complex burrow systems. Usually gentle and timid, this Kangaroo Rat will fight furiously to defend its territory from invasion by other Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rats. Foot-drumming on top of the mounds is used as a warning signal. Like other kangaroo rats, it sandbathes, both to clean its fur and to scent-mark its territory. The white tip on the end of its long tail waves as the animal moves around, giving this Kangaroo Rat both its common name, Banner-tailed, and its Latin scientific name, ""spectabilis,"" which means visible, worth seeing, notable, admirable, or remarkable."

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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.

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The smallest Perognathus species of all, the Silky Pocket Mouse is among the smallest rodents in North America. These Mice are most active on cool, humid nights, typically foraging for fallen seeds by sifting sand with their tiny forepaws. Sometimes they climb the stems of grasses to harvest seeds that have not yet fallen. They carry nesting materials and seeds back to the burrow in their fur-lined cheek pouches, and store seeds within the burrow. The Mice do not hibernate in winter, but remain active within their burrows, fueled by a cache of seeds. Silky Pocket Mice have not often reproduced in captivity, so knowledge about their reproductive habits is somewhat sketchy. They are known to have one or two litters a year, depending on climate and food availability. Two to six young are born in a litter, after a gestation of about four weeks.

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Northern Pygmy Mice are the smallest rodents in North America. They live in a variety of habitats where there is dense ground cover, and eat grass seeds and leaves, prickly pear cactus fruit and stems, mesquite beans, and granjeno berries (granjeno is an evergreen shrub). They will also eat snakes, snails, and insects if presented with them. They cope with desert heat by entering torpor. Males help care for the young, grooming them and returning them to the nest. Nests have been found under fallen logs or in thick clumps of grass. Young Mice reach sexual maturity quickly, females at about 60 days and males at about 70-80 days. The median life span is only 23 weeks, although captives, in laboratories, have been known to live as long as 170 weeks. Snakes and owls prey on them.

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"Woodrats are also known as Packrats, because they cache various manmade objects in their dens. This habit of collecting foreign objects is useful to scientists, who can place numbered sticks throughout an area and later open a den, record the numbers of the sticks the woodrat has carried home, and determine the size of the animal's home range. White-throated Woodrats occur on forested hillsides, rocky mountainsides, and on flat scrubland. They especially like prickly pear cactus, but also eat cholla, yucca, grass, catclaw, soapweed, and various parts of juniper trees and mesquite. They make their dens of some of these plants, which they can use as a food supply when fresh food is not available. Fossilized woodrat dens can supply information about ancient vegetation and therefore, what the climate must have been like at different times."

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Northern Grasshopper Mice are highly predatory, and their skulls and teeth resemble those of flesh-eating carnivores such as cats and dogs. Their forelimbs, equipped with elongated fingers and claws, have developed great dexterity, so they are able to manipulate captured prey. These Mice have a complex social system, using howling vocalizations to broadcast information on sex, identity, body size, and location. Grasshopper Mice prey primarily on grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles, yet they incorporate some seeds into their diet, presumably a dietary preference retained from a seed-eating ancestry.

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Southern Grasshopper Mice are also known as scorpion Mice: they are able to kill (and then eat) scorpions, by first immobilizing the venomous tail and then biting the head. They also prey on beetles that secrete defensive chemicals from the tip of the abdomen, by jamming the pointed barb into the ground and then striking a deathblow to the head. Of the three species of grasshopper mice, the southern Grasshopper Mouse inhabits the driest regions. Although it does not have the physiological adaptations of some other desert rodents, such as kangaroo rats or pocket mice, it may be able to get enough water from the bodies of its prey - arthropods and small mammals - to live without drinking water.

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Brush Mice occupy rocky and brushy or forested environments in which rock ledges, piles of brush, fallen trees, and boulders offer shelter and denning sites. Although they are reportedly good climbers, they only occasionally build their nests in tree cavities. Within their enormous range, these Mice are found only at elevations above 2,000 m. They consume many kinds of nuts, seeds, and fruit, including grass seeds, acorns, pine nuts, hackberries, juniper berries, and fir seeds.

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Cactus Mice are found in habitats with sandy soil and scattered vegetation, from low deserts to rocky foothills. They typically live in burrows, but are also found on the surface in piles of debris, vegetation, or rock crevices. They are active at night, feeding on seeds, insects, and green vegetation, and can become torpid during the day. They may estivate (become dormant, with metabolic rate lowered) during hotter and drier months, so as to reduce water loss. In her lifetime, which is probably about a year, a female can bear three or four litters of up to four young.

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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.

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Deermice rarely leave their homes during the day, but feed opportunistically at night on whatever is available: seeds, nuts, fruit, berries, insects and other animal matter, and whatever they find tasty in houses. Deermice have the most extensive range of any North American rodent, and are found in almost every kind of habitat. They climb easily, tunnel through snow or scurry about on its surface, and find shelter everywhere from mattresses to tree cavities to burrows in the ground. Populations fluctuate in cycles of three to five years, sometimes correlated with the amount of food available. The Deermouse is important as a laboratory animal, and can be a factor in the spread of some human diseases, including hantavirus, plague, and Lyme disease.

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The fulvous Harvest Mouse is a nocturnal species that lives in grassy fields where there are shrubs. These Mice are good climbers, and build baseball-sized nests up off the ground, in vegetation. Winter nests are sturdier than summer nests. When a nest is occupied—often by two Mice—the one or two entrances are plugged. Fulvous Harvest Mice eat invertebrates when they are available, during the spring and summer, and switch to seeds in fall and winter. Along the Texas coast, where invertebrates are available year-round, they are the dominant item in the diet. Males and females seem to travel together, which suggests they may pair-bond in monogamous relationships, a rarity for mammals. These Mice live for about a year, and seldom longer than 14 months.

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Western Harvest Mouse are adaptable, widespread, and abundant, especially in meadows, prairies, old pastures, stream valleys, and marshes. They eat seeds, insects, and plants. They rarely live for more than a year, but under optimal conditions, a female can produce more than 50 young in her lifetime. Their nests are built of plant material, usually on the ground, but sometimes in burrows or in vegetation slightly above the ground. Each mouse may have several nests, which it uses at different times. The Mice are nonterritorial and show a great deal of tolerance for one another, even huddling together when it is cold. Such intimate contact carries risks: they are afflicted with many parasites, including protozoans, worms, fleas, chiggers, mites, and lice. They are a vector for a hantavirus that can cause acute respiratory illness and hemorrhagic fever in humans.

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"The Hispid Cotton Rat's fur is sprinkled or streaked with blackish or dark brownish and grayish hairs. The Rats molt, losing and getting a new coat, three times in three months as they move through juvenile and subadult stages and into adulthood. Hispid Cotton Rats inhabit tall, dense grasses that protect them from birds of prey. Their range has recently expanded northward into central Virginia, Kentucky, northern Missouri, southern Nebraska, and northern New Mexico, and westward into western Colorado and the Imperial Valley of California. Where their range and the ranges of Prairie Voles and Pygmy Mice now overlap, the Hispid Cotton Rat appears to be competitively excluding these species."

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"Extreme heat does not deter Harris's Antelope Squirrel from vigorous daytime activity. It is agile, scampering over sharp-spined cholla cactus without being pricked, and may sit on top of a cactus to look around. Antelope squirrels dig burrows, usually under desert shrubs such as mesquite, creosotebush, or palo verde, and eat mainly fruit and cactus seeds. Trapping studies indicate the species is found in low densities that vary seasonally. The squirrels are active year-round. They typically breed in December or January and have a litter of 5-9 young about a month later."

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Round-tailed Ground Squirrels occur primarily in sandy, relatively flat desert, from Death Valley, which is about 70 m below sea level, to elevations of 1,200 m. They dig their burrows in loose soil, often under a shrub. Mesquite and creosotebush are typically the dominant plants in their habitat. They can stay active on very hot days, and in some areas they are active year-round. In other places, they spend most of their time underground from September until January, but they do not hibernate. Predators include birds of prey, coyotes, badgers, and snakes.

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"Rock squirrels, with their long, bushy tails, look very much like tree squirrels, but seldom climb trees. They are most commonly found in rocky habitats—canyons, cliffs, and hillsides. Occasionally a nest is found in a tree, but they usually dig burrows, choosing a place that offers a near-by lookout where they can watch for danger. Other mammals and even burrowing owls are known to use their dens if the squirrels abandon them. The rock squirrel's geographic range is large, and it is found at elevations from sea level to 2,900 m. Females produce one litter a year in places or at elevations where winter weather lasts longer, and two in warmer parts of their range."

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Cliff chipmunk fossils about 2,300 and 8,000 years old have been found in caves in Utah and Nevada. The chipmunks still live in those states, in habitats where sagebrush, fourwing saltbush, chokecherry, wild rose, and cliffrose grow. In other parts of their range, they are found with a wide variety of plants, and their diets include seeds and fruits from many kinds of grasses, shrubs, forbs, and trees. They also feed on insects, frogs, salamanders, snakes, birds, and eggs. Four other chipmunk species share parts of their range. Where one or more other species occurs on a mountain, the cliff chipmunk usually is found at the lowest elevation, but where none of the others occurs, cliff chipmunks range right to the top of the mountain.

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