General Information
Peromyscus species, also known as deer mice, are common North American mammals. They tend to occur in range from Alaska to Central America in many different habitats. For the fact that they are so abundant in nature, these mice constitute a large component of the nearctic ecosystems. These mice have also been of very great importance to the scientific esearch, both the wild type and the genetically variant have been used for laboratory researches. They do differ from the house mouse and the rats, because they are not closely related to these species.
Peromyscus are very cold-tolerant species, they do prefer to live and survive in temperatures between 22–25°C. They are usually sexually mature by 55 days of age. Gestation is 23 days, except in lactating females where it is delayed by 4–6 days to 28 or 30 days. Peromyscus breed in mated pairs.
Most species have potential life spans of 4–5 years. Mice of the genus Peromyscus range in adult size from 15 g to 150 g. They mostly feed on seeds and berries which constitute about 75% of the diet and about 25% is other animal material. A few are more insectivorous.
Read more about this topic: Pemberton's Deer Mouse
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