The Mount Tapulao forest mouse (''Apomys brownorum'') is a forest

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

endemic to the

Mount Tapulao Mount Tapulao (also known as High Peak) is the highest mountain in the Zambales Mountain Range and in the province of Zambales in the Philippines. The peak, which rise to an elevation of above sea level, and it is located in the municipality of ...

area in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is named after the American zoologist

Barbara Elaine Russell Brown Barbara Elaine Russell Brown (February 14, 1929 - January 7, 2019) was an American biologist and philanthropist. Personal life Brown was born Barbara Russell, on 14 February 1929 in Chicago; her parents were Jewish immigrants from Romania and ...

Anatomy and physiology

The mouse is the smallest species in its genus, measuring in total "230-255 mm; tail: 107-116 mm; hind foot: 31-35 mm; ear: 21 - 22 mm" and weighing 60-84 grams. On its dorsal side, the mouse has long, dense, soft, dark brown fur, with dark gray ventral fur turning a lighter gray-brown at the tips. Its tail is bicolored, "dark grayish-brown dorsally and nearly white ventrally."

Ecology

The Mount Tapulaou forest mouse lives in old growth

cloud forests A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud ...

and regenerating

secondary forests A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

at a height of 2024 m, with a lower limit somewhere between 1690 m and 2024 m. It is unknown how extensive

chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...

mining of the habitat affects the species.

Behavior

The mouse eats seeds and invertebrates such as earthworms. It is nocturnal.

References

Apomys Rodents of the Philippines Mammals described in 2011 Endemic fauna of the Philippines {{murinae-stub