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House mouse - MUS MUSCULUS
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Mouse": "Mouse" comes from the Old English word
"mus," for the animal.
Location: Worldwide.
Habitat: Terrestrial. This mouse lives in fields, among bushes, and in woodland, but it is also compatible with man, and is thus found in homes and buildings.
Description: The tail is covered with small scales and sparse hairs. The coat is usually gray-brown on the back, and slightly paler on the underside. The snout is pointed, the ears and eyes are relatively large, and the upper incisors have a notch at the tip when viewed from the side. Length of head and body about four inches, tail about the same, and weight about one ounce.
Behavior: The house mouse eats anything and everything, but prefers grain and other vegetable matter. It is usually active at night, but will also venture forth during the day. It is an agile little animal. It climbs well and swims fairly well. It lives alone, in large family groups, or in definite colonies. In nature it builds nests of relatively fine fibers from plants and other sources,but in buildings it prefers to live in the spaces between the walls.
Reproduction: This mouse reproduces virtually all year round. After about a two to three week gestation period, the female gives birth to six or seven young, which are blind and hairless. They are weaned at three to four weeks.
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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