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Wood Mouse - Apodemus sylvaticus
Topic Started: Jul 5 2012, 07:17 AM (1,320 Views)
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Wood Mouse - Apodemus sylvaticus

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Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Apodemus
Species: Apodemus sylvaticus

The wood mouse is a common murid rodent in Europe and northwestern Africa. Other common names are long-tailed field mouse, field mouse, common field mouse, and European wood mouse. It can be found in association with people and is sometimes considered a pest.

Habitat

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Wood mice inhabit forests, grasslands, and cultivated fields. In Europe it ranges north to Scandinavia and east to Ukraine. The wood mouse is also found in northwestern Africa and on many Mediterranean islands.

Description
Wood mice have the typical murid appearance. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, has slightly smaller ears, and is usually slightly smaller overall. It grows around 90 mm (3.5 in) in body length, with a tail roughly the same length as the body.

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Ecology
Almost entirely nocturnal and terrestrial, wood mice burrow extensively, build nests of plants and live in buildings during harsh seasons.

Wood mice are primarily seed eaters, particularly seeds of trees such as oak, beech, ash, lime, hawthorn and sycamore. If there is a plentiful amount of seeds on the ground, they carry them back to their nests/burrows for storage. They may eat small invertebrates such as snails and insects, particularly in late spring and early summer when seeds are least available. They also consume berries, fruits and roots.

During the colder months wood mice do not hibernate; however, during severe winter seasons they fall into a sort of torpor, a decrease in physiological activity. T

hey are mainly active during the dark, and are very good climbers. While foraging, wood mice pick up and distribute visually conspicuous objects, such as leaves and twigs, which they then use as landmarks during exploration. If a wood mouse is caught by its tail, it can quickly shed the end of it, which may never regrow.

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Reproduction
The wood mouse has a breeding season from February to October in which multiple matings occur between males and females resulting in scramble competition. Such behavioral characteristics result in sperm competition and multiple paternity litters. The society is polygynous with copulation resulting from scramble competition during reproductive periods.

The gestation period of wood mice is of 25–26 days and each female produces on average five young. The offspring become independent after about three weeks and become sexually active after two months.


Edited by Taipan, Jul 6 2012, 09:45 PM.
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