Identification

It is a medium sized (head-body length 10 to 12 cm) rodent (animal with a pair of incisor teeth in continuous growth). Its coat is greyish brown on the back and whitish on the belly, with a tendency to turn reddish and yellowish respectively in adults.  On its head, very dark black eyes are marked and prominent (differential character with other mice), which reveal their adaptation to night-life, as well as round ears larger than the rest of mice’s. Its hind legs are much longer than the fore ones (adaptation to jumping). The tail is long (9 to 12 cm), slender and covered with very thin hair. It is able to loose and regenerate its tail as a mean of defence to face predators. There is no difference between males and females, except that the latest are a bit smaller than males.

Where does it live?

It is a wooded species living only in natural habitats (not very humanized), from dunes systems to steppes, crops, scrubs, forests, parks and gardens.  It lives from sea level to high mountains. It is not usually present in urbanized media, although it can be common in wooded or peri-urban areas.  It abounds in areas with mosaics of cereal crops, olive or almond trees, where it finds food.

How does it live?

It is an omnivore animal feeding mostly on seeds and complementing its diet with small invertebrates. It mostly feeds on the ground, but it does not hesitate to climb the trees to eat pineapples, fruits or acorns if they are accessible. It does not reject the shoots and green vegetable stems. It uses pantries to store food (acorns, almonds...). It has night habits. It digs shallow tunnels or uses cracks and tree holes as burrows. Tunnels often have several entries leading to a nest room. Its abundance is directly proportional to the existence of natural vegetation, especially Mediterranean scrub, and inversely with the degree of urbanization of its environment.

How does it reproduce?

Country mice can be active all year round. Its cycle is conditioned by food availability. In normal conditions, its mating period ranges from autumn to spring, with a break in summer. Males are polygamous and travel through their territory looking for the largest possible number of females to procreate with. The females are very territorial and aggressive with each other. They can have from 1 to 7 litters per year, with from 3 to 6 offspring per birth.

Where can we see it in Málaga?

This species is present, common and abundant all over the province. We can find it on almost every stage of the Great Path (Gran Senda).

Curious facts

The name Apodemus comes from the Greeck apo (out of) and demos (of the people) and clearly refers to the fact that it is not a city mouse, a character that Linneo perfectly clarified with the Latin name that he gave to the species.   The presence of the country or forest mouse (sylvaticus) in a habitat is linked to its environmental health. It is used as a bio indicator of toxicity in ecosystems. The country mice quickly disappears from contaminated environments.

Similar species

It can be mistaken with the brown and house mice. Regarding the brown mouse, the country mouse has a longer tail, which is the main difference. Regarding the house mouse, in addition to having a different coat colour (grey in the home mouse and brown in the field), the field mice do not share habitat with the domestic ones. The eyes of the country mouse are bigger and much more marked than in the other two species.