House mouse
The house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus, also treated as Mus domesticus) is a small rodent that lives mainly alongside people. It was introduced to Britain in prehistoric times.[1][2]
Description
The house mouse is greyer than the wood mouse and yellow-necked mouse. It has smaller eyes, ears and hind feet, a pointed muzzle and a long ringed tail. The head and body measure 6 to 10 cm, the tail the same again, and adults weigh 12 to 22 g. It leaves piles of droppings mixed with grease and urine, which have a stale smell.[1]
Habitat and behaviour
House mice live mainly in buildings, on waste ground and around livestock. Some live outdoors in fields and on islands, but they are not normally found in woods. Their nests are untidy balls of shredded paper or fabric. They gnaw wires and plastic and spoil stored grain.[3] They forage erratically, visiting up to 20 feeding places a night.[1] Indoors they breed all year round, with five to ten litters a year of five to eight young, which mature at five to six weeks. Females may raise their litters together in shared nests.[3]
History in Britain
The two books disagree on when the house mouse arrived. Couzens and colleagues say it probably came in the Bronze Age.[1] Yalden and Barrett describe it as one of two household pests, with the black rat, that were certainly introduced in the Iron Age or Roman period, possibly arriving with domestic cats. They report that it was regularly present at Roman sites. In one sample from a Roman granary it was the commonest small mammal, making up 31% of 191 animals.[2] It was also the commonest small mammal at some Saxon sites in Hamwic (Southampton) and York.[4] It reached Ireland too.[5]
Numbers
Couzens and colleagues estimate about 5.4 million house mice in Britain before the breeding season.[3] Yalden and Barrett list it among the introduced mammals that number more than a million in Britain.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Couzens, Dominic; Swash, Andy; Still, Robert; Dunn, Jon (2021). Britain's Mammals: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (Updated ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780691224862.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 4. ISBN 9781408128718.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Couzens, Dominic; Swash, Andy; Still, Robert; Dunn, Jon (2021). Britain's Mammals: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (Updated ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 91. ISBN 9780691224862.
- ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 5. ISBN 9781408128718.
- ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 8. ISBN 9781408128718.
- ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 9. ISBN 9781408128718.