Behavior
House mice usually run, walk, or stand on all fours, but when eating, fighting, or orienting themselves, they stand only on the hind legs, supported by the tail. When they run, the horizontal tail serves for balance; the end stands up vertically, unless the mouse is frightened. Mice are good jumpers, climbers, and swimmers.
Mice are mostly active during dusk or night; they do not like bright lights. They live in a wide variety of hidden places near food sources, and construct nests from various soft materials. Mice are territorial, and one dominant male usually lives together with several females and young. Dominant males respect each other's territory and normally enter another's territory only if it is vacant. If two or more males are held together in a cage, they will often turn aggressive unless they have been raised together from birth.
House mice primarily feed on plant matter, but are omnivorous. They will eat their droppings to acquire nutrients produced by bacteria in their intestines. House mice, like most other rodents, do not vomit.
Mice are afraid of rats, which often kill and (partially) eat mice. This rat behavior is known as muricide. Despite this behaviour, free-living populations of rats and mice do exist together in forest areas in New Zealand, North America and elsewhere. House mice are generally poor competitors and in most areas cannot survive away from human settlements in areas where other small mammals, such as wood mice, are present. However, in some areas (such as Australia), mice are able to coexist with other small rodent species.
Read more about this topic: House Mouse
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“Gaining a better understanding of how children’s minds work at different ages will allow you to make more sense of their behaviors. With this understanding come decreased stress and increased pleasure from being a parent. It lessens the frustrations that come from expecting things that a child simply cannot do or from incorrectly interpreting a child’s behavior in adult terms.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“The inability to control our children’s behavior feels the same as not being able to control it in ourselves. And the fact is that primitive behavior in children does unleash primitive behavior in mothers. That’s what frightens mothers most. For young children, even when out of control, do not have the power to destroy their mothers, but mothers who are out of control feel that they may destroy their children.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to accept—and in their acceptance seem to reinforce—these roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
—Ellen Lewis (20th century)