The canyon mouse (''Peromyscus crinitus'') is a gray-brown mouse found in many states of the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Its preferred habitat is arid, rocky

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

. 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 Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

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 Angelos Basin.

References

*Biotics Database. 2005.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is part of the Utah Department of Natural Resources for the state of Utah in the United States. The mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources is to serve the people of Utah as trustee and guardian of ...

, 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. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 ''in'' Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. *Johnson, D. W., & Armstrong, D. M. (1987). Peromyscus crinitus. Mammalian Species, 287, 1–8. Mammals of Mexico Mammals of the United States Fauna of the Western United States Peromyscus Mammals described in 1891 Taxa named by Clinton Hart Merriam {{Peromyscus-stub