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Wood mouse

From Tilcayo Cats, the lean encyclopaedia by Tilcayo Knowledge Systems
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The wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) is one of the most abundant mammals in Britain. It far outnumbers the house mouse and the brown rat, and is often found in gardens and sheds.[1]

Description

The wood mouse is dark brown above and greyish-white below, with yellow-brown flanks. It has prominent eyes and ears and large hind feet. Unlike the house mouse, it does not smell musky. Some individuals have a separate yellowish spot on the chest, but not the full collar of the yellow-necked mouse. The head and body measure 6.1 to 10.3 cm, the tail 7.1 to 9.5 cm, and adults weigh 13 to 27 g.[1] Its skull is hard to tell apart from that of the yellow-necked mouse, so remains found at archaeological sites are often recorded only as Apodemus.[2]

Habitat and behaviour

Wood mice are abundant in woodland, but they also live in gardens, road verges, hedgerows, farmland, heath, moorland and walls, and on most small islands. They eat seeds, nuts, buds, berries and fungi, as well as snails, insects and worms. They gnaw hazelnuts on the outer surface and store food in their burrows.[3] They are active mainly at night, can travel up to 1,200 m in a night, and climb up to about 5 m. They breed from at least March to October, with up to four litters a year of four to seven young.[4]

Numbers

Couzens and colleagues estimate about 38 million wood mice in Britain before the breeding season and about 114 million in autumn, with about 10 million in Ireland.[4] Yalden and Barrett place it among the most numerous British mammals. They note that its numbers rise and fall with the autumn seed crop in deciduous woodland, and that little can be said objectively about how its status has changed.[5]

History and islands

Wood mice appear in Mesolithic woodland faunas.[6] The Irish wood mouse was once thought to have been brought in by the Vikings, but its wide biochemical variation suggests it has been there much longer. The wood mouse has more named island subspecies than any other British small mammal and lives on more British islands than any other.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. 84. ISBN 9780691224862.
  2. ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 4. ISBN 9781408128718.
  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. 85. ISBN 9780691224862.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 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. 86. ISBN 9780691224862.
  5. ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 9. ISBN 9781408128718.
  6. ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 3. ISBN 9781408128718.
  7. ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 8. ISBN 9781408128718.
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