Northern grasshopper mouse | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Cricetidae |
Subfamily: | Neotominae |
Genus: | Onychomys |
Species: | O. leucogaster |
Binomial name | |
Onychomys leucogaster (Wied-Neuwied, 1841) | |
The northern grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster) is a North American carnivorous rodent of the family Cricetidae. [2] It ranges over much of the western part of the continent, from southern Saskatchewan and central Washington to Tamaulipas in northeast Mexico. [1]
The northern grasshopper mouse is found in North America, primarily in dry areas. They are stocky: on average they are 164 mm (6.5 in) long and about 35 g (0.077 lb) in weight. The tail is often less than 30% of the total body length, whereas other mice tend to have longer tails. It has two main color phases: grayish (or black in northeastern bits of its range) and cinnamon with white below. [3] Unlike most rodents, this one has a mostly carnivorous diet mainly consisting of small insects, other mice, and even snakes; no more than a quarter of its diet is plant-based. Vegetation is consumed in greatest amounts around midwinter. This rodent is also nocturnal and especially active on moonless or cloudy nights. Throughout the night, the grasshopper mouse makes high-pitched noises, performed with a raised nose and opened mouth to claim its territory. It's preyed on primarily by hawks, owls, coyotes, and snakes. [3]
This grasshopper mouse can be found in prairies with low grass, dry areas, and also pasture lands of the central and southwestern parts of the United States. O. leucogaster has been known to associate positively with black-tailed prairie dogs, possibly due to their preference for disturbed areas, suitable habitat in the form of burrows, or food supply. [4] [5] [6] The northern grasshopper mouse lives in burrows underground, by either digging its own or inhabiting burrows that have been disowned. These mice have a system of multiple burrows, each one serving a different function. The nest burrow is the primary area of activity during the day. To keep moisture in during the day, they close up the opening. A retreat burrow serves as a quick escape from predators. Its design is about 10 inches into the ground at a 45° angle. The cache burrow is used for storing seeds. The signpost burrows are small and filled with glandular secretions that mark the boundaries of their territory. All of these burrows are found within a large area of territory. [3]
The northern grasshopper mouse has about two or three litters a year consisting of two to seven young, with the average being four. They have a gestation of 32–47 days, and the young are born in either late fall or early winter, between September and February. The male gathers and provides food for the female while she is pregnant and taking care of her young. [7] The northern grasshopper mouse is an altricial species; baby mice are naked with closed eyes when they are born, and weigh about three grams. Both sexes reach their sexual maturity at three months, but the lifespan of a typical mouse living in the wild is only a few weeks to a few months.
Susceptibility studies on grasshopper mice from areas with plague and from those areas that have been historically free of plague by Thomas et al. (1988) [8] showed the animals from areas with a history of plague were more resistant to the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis than the animals from a historically plague-free area, hence they were considered to be a potential alternate host for plague. Grasshopper mice have also been shown to harbor 57 species of fleas, many of which are vectors of plague. [9] Given the abundance and diversity of fleas on the grasshopper mouse and their use of prairie dog burrows and interaction with other rodent species, they are considered to be important for the maintenance and transmission of plague in the prairie dog ecosystem. [6] [10] They are also found frequently infected with another hemotropic intracellular pathogen Bartonella [6] and Ying et al. 2007 [11] showed that they can acquire different strains of Bartonella from multiple rodent species.
Yersinia pestis is a gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillus bacterium without spores that is related to both Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, the pathogen from which Y. pestis evolved and responsible for the Far East scarlet-like fever. It is a facultative anaerobic organism that can infect humans via the Oriental rat flea. It causes the disease plague, which caused the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in recorded history. Plague takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic. Yersinia pestis is a parasite of its host, the rat flea, which is also a parasite of rats, hence Y. pestis is a hyperparasite.
The Black-footed ferret, also known as the American polecat or prairie dog hunter, is a species of mustelid native to central North America.
Septicemic plague is one of the three forms of plague, and is caused by Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative species of bacterium. Septicemic plague is a systemic disease involving infection of the blood and is most commonly spread by bites from infected fleas. Septicemic plague can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation and is always fatal when untreated. The other varieties of the plague are bubonic plague and pneumonic plague.
The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family of mammals, and has members throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The Neotominae are a subfamily of the family Cricetidae. They consist of four tribes, 16 genera, and many species of New World rats and mice, predominantly found in North America. Among them are the well-known deer mice, white-footed mice, packrats, and grasshopper mice.
Peromyscus maniculatus is a rodent native to eastern North America. It is most commonly called the eastern deer mouse; when formerly grouped with the western deer mouse, it was referred to as the North American deermouse and is fairly widespread across most of North America east of the Mississippi River, with the major exception being the lowland southeastern United States.
The black-tailed prairie dog is a rodent of the family Sciuridae found in the Great Plains of North America from about the United States–Canada border to the United States–Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, these animals do not truly hibernate. The black-tailed prairie dog can be seen above ground in midwinter. A black-tailed prairie dog town in Texas was reported to cover 25,000 sq mi (64,000 km2) and included 400,000,000 individuals. Prior to habitat destruction, the species may have been the most abundant prairie dog in central North America. It was one of two prairie dogs described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the journals and diaries of their expedition.
Mearns's grasshopper mouse or the Chihuahuan grasshopper mouse is a grasshopper mouse found in southwestern New Mexico, West Texas, and north-central Mexico. They are similar to Onychomys torridus, but differ in karyotype and size. This mouse is smaller in every regard except for the nasal length of the skull.
The silver mountain vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. They are distinguished by their silver-grey pelage, long vibrissae, rootless hypsodont molars and angular skull shape. Like many mammals of the Eurasian Steppe eco-region, they are well adapted to life in high altitudes, and can be found in mountain areas of Central Asia from Saur Mountains in the north-east to Kugitang Range in the west, and to Tibet and the Himalayas in the south.
Sundevall's jird is a species of rodent in the family of Muridae. It is found in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Morocco, Niger, Palestine, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Western Sahara, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and possibly Mali. Its natural habitat is hot deserts.
The southern grasshopper mouse or scorpion mouse is a species of predatory rodent in the family Cricetidae, native to Mexico and the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah in the United States. Notable for its resistance to venom, it routinely preys on the highly venomous Arizona bark scorpion.
The plains harvest mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northern Mexico and the central United States.
Merriam's pocket mouse is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is found in northeast Mexico and New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas in the United States. Its habitat is shortgrass prairie, desert areas with scrub and arid shrubland. The species is named to honor Clinton Hart Merriam, a biologist who first described several other members of the genus Perognathus, and first elucidated the principle of a "life zone" as a means of characterizing ecological areas with similar plant and animal communities.
Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are native to all major land masses except for Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity.
Grasshopper mice are rodents of the genus Onychomys, occurring in North America. They feed on insects and other arthropods.
Sylvatic plague is an infectious bacterial disease caused by the plague bacterium that primarily affects rodents, such as prairie dogs. It is the same bacterium that causes bubonic and pneumonic plague in humans. Sylvatic, or sylvan, means 'occurring in woodland,' and refers specifically to the form of plague in rural wildlife. Urban plague refers to the form in urban wildlife.
Urban plague is an infectious disease among rodent species that live in close association with humans in urban areas. It is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis which is the same bacterium that causes bubonic and pneumonic plague in humans. Plague was first introduced into the United States in 1900 by rat–infested steamships that had sailed from affected areas, mostly from Asia. Urban plague spread from urban rats to rural rodent species, especially among prairie dogs in the western United States.