The fawn hopping mouse (''Notomys cervinus'') is a

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') 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 n ...

native to the central Australian desert. Like all

hopping mice A hopping mouse is any of about ten different Australian native mice in the genus ''Notomys''. They are rodents, not marsupials, and their ancestors are thought to have arrived from Asia about 5 million years ago. All are brown or fawn, fading ...

it has strong front teeth, a long tail, dark eyes, big ears, well-developed haunches and very long, narrow hind feet. It weighs between . (Compare with the common house mouse, at .) The coloration of the fawn hopping mouse varies from pale pinkish-fawn to grey on the upper parts, and white underneath. The tail is long, bicoloured (white underneath, darker below), and ends in a dark brush. The ears and round, dark eyes are particularly large, and the whiskers even more so: in a creature that is only long. The favoured habitat is the sparsely vegetated arid

gibber plain A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cob ...

s and claypans of the

Lake Eyre Basin The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...

, including parts of northern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, far south-western

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

and possibly the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

, though this last is uncertain. Records from the late 19th century show that its former range was more extensive including western New South Wales.Ellis, M. (1993). Extension to the known range of the Fawn Hopping-mouse Notomys cervinus in New South Wales. Australian Zoologist. 29:77-78. Breeding is thought to be opportunistic. In captivity, gestation is about 40 days and between one and five fully furred young are born. Fawn hopping mice live in small family groups of two to four individuals. During the day, they shelter in burrows which are simpler and shallower than those of the sand-dwelling

dusky hopping mouse The dusky hopping mouse (''Notomys fuscus''), is a small rodent endemic to Australia, inhabiting desert regions characterised by sand dunes. Populations have experienced significant declines since the arrival of Europeans, and continue to be subject ...

but nevertheless up to a metre deep with between one and three entrances. At night, they forage outwards for hundreds of metres, searching for seeds, and also taking green shoots and insects if the opportunity presents itself. As with other hopping mice, they do not need to drink, though they can metabolise highly saline water if it is available. The fawn hopping mouse is classified as vulnerable. The causes of its decline are unknown, but assumed to be habitat degradation, competition for food with

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, and predation by introduced cats and

foxes Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1764583 Notomys Mammals of South Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Mammals of New South Wales Rodents of Australia Mammals described in 1853