Harvest mouse
| Harvest mouse | ||||||||||||
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Harvest mouse ( Micromys minutus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Micromys | ||||||||||||
| Dehne , 1841 | ||||||||||||
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| Micromys minutus | ||||||||||||
| ( Pallas , 1771) |
The harvest mouse ( Micromys minutus ), also known as the Eurasian harvest mouse to distinguish it from other harvest mouse species , is a rodent species from the group of old world mice (Murinae).
features
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The harvest mouse is one of the smallest rodents around. It reaches a head body length of 55 to 75 millimeters, the tail measures around 50 to 75 millimeters. Their weight is 5 to 7 grams. Their upper side is red-brown, in some areas also dark brown. The underside is sharply set off from the back and white. The unusually long tail is used as a prehensile tail and is two-colored. The ears barely protrude from the fur. The eyes are very small and dark brown. The skull is also very small; Harvest mice can squeeze through holes one centimeter in diameter.
distribution and habitat
Harvest mice are common in large parts of Eurasia . In Europe, their range begins in southern Great Britain , northern Spain and Finland and extends over large parts of Central and Eastern Europe. However, it is absent in most of the Iberian Peninsula, in the southern parts of Italy, in the Alps and in northern Scandinavia and is only sporadically represented in the Balkans. In a wide strip, their area of distribution runs through southern Russia and extends to Japan , Korea and large parts of eastern China . It mostly inhabits lower-lying areas, but occurs in areas up to 1700 meters above sea level.
Their habitat are areas with high vegetation, for example tall grasses, reeds and reeds and bamboo thickets, but also grain fields. Occasionally they can also be found in hedges or rice fields.
Lifestyle and diet
Thanks to their specialized paws and prehensile tail, dwarf mice can skillfully climb stalks or branches. You can be out day and night, but are mostly nocturnal with activity peaks after dusk and before dawn.
To raise young they set up ball nests between the stalks, these have a diameter of 60 to 130 millimeters and are usually 1 to 1.3 meters high. It takes two to eight days to build a nest. Inside it is padded with small, gnawed materials. Outside of the mating season they also sometimes build nests, but these are thinner and less well padded. In the cooler months they sometimes create nests on the ground or in holes in the ground, sometimes in buildings.
Harvest mice live solitary. They live in fixed areas of 350 to 400 m². Males and females only come together for reproduction and the establishment of the litter nest. In winter, on the other hand, up to 5000 animals can live together peacefully in granaries, but the closer the mating season approaches, the more aggressively the animals react to one another.
Harvest mice feed on the seeds of the grasses in which they build their nests, on the insects that live in them and on green parts of plants. In addition, they sometimes eat bird eggs or young birds. In winter the food can consist almost entirely of animal food.
Reproduction
Reproduction takes place in the warmer months, it begins in April or May, reaches its peak in July and lasts until September or late autumn, depending on the weather. The females can theoretically litter up to six times a year, because of the short life expectancy, a female rarely has more than two litters in the wild. The gestation period is 17 to 18 days, the litter size varies between 1 and 13 and averages 3 to 8 young animals, newborns weigh around 1 gram. At 8 to 10 days their eyes open and at 15 to 16 days they are weaned and leave their birth nest. They are sexually mature at around 35 days, which means that up to four generations can reproduce in one year. Few animals in nature live to be more than six months old, animals in human care can live to be almost five years old.
Danger
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The harvest mouse populations are declining in parts of Europe, but the total population is naturally subject to large fluctuations. The main threats are the loss of living space and the fragmentation of the remaining areas. In Austria it is therefore considered endangered, in Germany it is on the pre-warning list. Globally, the species is listed by the IUCN as "not endangered" ( least concern ).
Systematics
The harvest mouse was first described by Peter Simon Pallas as Mus minutus in 1771 .
According to Wilson & Reeder (2005), it is the namesake of the Micromys genus group, a group otherwise limited to Southeast Asia, which also includes the genera brush-tailed tree mice ( Chiropodomys ), dwarf tree mice ( Haeromys ), Asian climbing rats ( Hapalomys ), long-tailed mice, according to Wilson & Reeder (2005). Includes climbing mice ( Vandeleuria ) and Vernay climbing mice ( Vernaya ). According to genetic studies by Lecompte et al. (2008) the harvest mouse is a primitive representative of the Rattini , so it is relatively closely related to the rat .
literature
- Ernest P. Walker (greeting), Ronald M. Nowak (arr.): Walker's Mammals of the World . 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Rudolf Piechocki: The harvest mouse. Micromys minutus Pallas ( The new Brehm library ; Vol. 222). 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Westarp Sciences, Hohenwarsleben 2001, ISBN 3-89432-165-2 .
- Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- Emilie Lecompte, Ken Aplin, Christiane Denys, François Catzeflis, Marion Chades, Pascale Chevret: Phylogeny and biogeography of African Murinae based on mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences, with a new tribal classification of the subfamily. In: BMC Evolutionary Biology. Vol. 8, 199, 2008, pp. 1-21, doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-8-199 .
