Mice
Overview
A mouse (plural mice) is a small animal that belongs to one of numerous species of rodents. The best known mouse species is
the common house mouse (Mus musculus). It is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus)
and the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) also sometimes live in houses.
Although mice may live up to two and a half years in the lab, the average mouse in the wild lives only about 4 months, primarily
due to heavy predation. Cats, wild dogs, foxes, birds of prey, snakes and even certain kinds of insects have been known to prey
heavily upon mice. Nevertheless, due to its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, and its ability to live commensally
with humans, the mouse is regarded to be the second most successful mammalian genus living on Earth today, after humans.
Mice are sometimes considered harmful pests, damaging and eating crops and spreading diseases through their parasites and
faeces. In western North America, breathing dust that has come in contact with mouse faeces has been linked to the deadly
hantavirus. The original motivation for the domestication of cats is thought to have been for their predation of mice and their
relatives, the rats.
Click on the links to the left to find out more on individual UK species.
</i> live in your loft, breed like rabbits, go bump in the night, gnaw through wiring, and strip fruit trees in your garden.<p>Householders in the Hertfordshire and neighbouring Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are plagued by the bushy-tailed, 8in-long Glis glis, which resemble small grey squirrels.<p>The Glis glis will mark their territory with a glandular secretion which often causes a strong odour in an area close to where they are living, they will drop their faecal pellets quite randomly producing quite a mess in a short period.<p><h3>Biology</h3><p>Female gives birth to up to 11 live young, usually in August, which are weaned in 6 weeks.<p>Glis glis are primarily nocturnal and are rather secretive. They begin to hibernate at the end of October, and emerge in late April.<p>Glis glis are omnivorous. They feed mainly on seeds, leaves, buds, nuts, berries, acorns, and soft fruits. They eat insects occasionally and have been known to eat small birds.<p><h3>Distribution</h3><p>Glis glis are native to parts of France, Northern Spain and the Mediterranean. Baron Rothschild was a fanatical naturalist who had set up his own natural history museum in a garden shed by the time he was ten and was determined to enrich Britains wildlife population. The six dormice that escaped from his menagerie, have given rise to thousands of animals, spread across Herts, Beds & Bucks.<p><h3>Significance</h3><p>Causes damage by chewing, and can consume and contaminate food destined for human consumption.<p><h3>Control</h3><p>Pest control contractors control Glis glis by laying traps for them. They can cull them under a special licence but Glis glis are protected and home owners, however long-suffering, are not allowed to kill them.','success')){kind=link}