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Northern grasshopper mouse - ONYCHOMYS LEUCOGASTER
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Mouse": "Mouse" comes from the Old English word
"mus," for the animal.
Location: Central and southwestern United States to northern Mexico.
Habitat: Prairie with low grass, desert, and pastureland.
Description: The fur on its back is a pinkish pale cinnamon, and on the underside completely white. The soles of the feet are covered with hair, the front feet having four conspicuous toes and the hind feet five. The ears and eyes are of average size. This animal reaches about ten inches long, with two and a half inches of that the tail. It weighs about one and one half ounces.
Behavior: It feeds on grasshoppers (whence its common name), other insects, small lizards, mice, and also on seeds and grass. It is solitary and nocturnal.
Reproduction: After a gestation period of four or five weeks the female gives birth to 2 to 6 young in March through August. These are born hairless and with their eyes closed. After about four days they start to move about outside the nest, and after nine days their eyes are open. They are weaned in 3 to 4 weeks, and reach sexual maturity when they are about 90 days old. A female may produce 3 to 6 litters in a year. The female has six nipples, two in the pectoral region and four in the abdomen region.
Note: Under controlled conditions in the laboratory, individuals have lived as long as four years. But the average life expectancy of one born in the wild is a few weeks or months.
Go to the Rodents Page to learn more about all the gnawing animals.
Or go to the Mouse Index to study other
mice.
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