Canyon mouse

Canyon mouse Temporal range: Quaternary to Present
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Neotominae
Genus:	Peromyscus
Species:	P. crinitus
Binomial name
Peromyscus crinitus (Merriam, 1891)

The canyon mouse (Peromyscus crinitus) is a gray-brown mouse found in many states of the western United States and northern Mexico. Its preferred habitat is arid, rocky desert. Vegetation has little or no effect on the distribution of canyon mice, it is instead associated with rocky substrate than any plant. Canyon mice forage in areas with shrub-like vegetation which can be used for protection against predators. It is the only species in the Peromyscus crinitus species group.

Canyon mice eat seeds, green vegetation, and insects. Small animals and insects make up a larger portion of diet when seeds and vegetation are rare. They breed in the spring and summer. Females can produce multiple litters of between two and five young every year. Males do not mate with more than one female, and the homes ranges of females and males overlap. Canyon mice are nocturnal and are active through the year. They usually nest among or below rocks in burrows.

The earliest fossils of canyon mice are from 100,000-130,000 years before present from the Los Angeles Basin.

References

• Biotics Database. 2005. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, NatureServe, and the network of Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers.
• Burt, W. H. and R. P. Grossenheider. A field guide to the mammals. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1980.
• Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 894–1531. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
• David W. Johnson; David M. Armstrong (12 August 1987). "Peromyscus crinitus" (PDF). Mammalian Species (287): 1–8. doi:10.2307/3503915. ISSN 0076-3519. JSTOR 3503915. Wikidata Q44840701. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2016.