Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse (''Zelotomys hildegardeae'') or Hildegarde's zelotomys, is a species of

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 ...

in the family Muridae. It is found in

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

Taxonomy

This mouse was first described in 1902 by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas. The specific name "''hildegardeae''" was given in honour of the British anthropologist Hildegarde Beatrice Hinde, who spent twenty-four years in Africa with her husband Sidney Langford Hinde, a colonial administrator; she studied East African languages, writing several grammars and vocabularies.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2009). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. .

Description

Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse grows to a head-and-body length of about . The head is broad with pale grey to white cheeks and whitish chin and throat. The whiskers are dark and the ears are dark and nearly naked, with a scattering of pale hairs. The fur is dense and soft; the dorsal surface of the head and body is greyish-brown or grey and the underparts are whitish or pale greyish-brown, the two colours merging on the flanks. The limbs are whitish, the feet sometimes having pale brown upper surfaces. The tail is about 70% of the head-and-body length; it bears rings of small scales and is scantily haired, with short white or greyish-brown hairs. This mouse produces a strong, unpleasant odour which may deter predators.

Distribution and habitat

This mouse is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to tropical Central Africa. Its range extends from Angola, northern Zambia and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, eastwards to Tanzania, and northwards to Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan. Individuals recorded in southern Angola were probably the closely related Woosnam's broad-headed mouse (''Zelotomys woosnami''). Its typical habitat is moist

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, tall grassland and scrub, often at the edge of swamps or forests. It is often found in areas of ''

Imperata cylindrica ''Imperata cylindrica'' (commonly known as cogongrass or kunai grass ) is a species of perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and southern Europe. It has also been introduc ...

'' grassland. In northern Malawi it has been recorded in pine plantations and in close proximity to human habitations. Its altitudinal range is unknown.

Ecology

This mouse is a partially diurnal and nocturnal species, and in captivity, is active throughout the night. It forages on the ground under cover of the long grasses and foliage and feeds mainly on

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s, such as grasshoppers and crickets,

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

s, other insects and

myriapod Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, ...

s, with some fruit. It communicates with other individuals by making high-pitched whistles. Despite its strong smell, it is preyed on by small

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other s ...

s. In Kenya, pregnant females have been found in June and November, while in Uganda, they have been found in February, March, May, June and July. The litter size is usually between three and seven.

Status

Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse has a very wide range but is nowhere particularly common. No specific threats have been identified and the mouse is present in a number of protected areas, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:mouse, broad-headed, Hildegarde's Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse Rodents of Africa Fauna of Central Africa Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Hildegarde's broad-headed mouse Taxonomy articles created by Polbot