mouse

(plural – mice)

a kind of animal – mammal – rodent — four-legged – meat & plant eating – related to the rat – small soft body with smooth brown, dark brown, black or white fur (hair), cone-shaped head with pointed snout (= mouth and nose part), long thick whiskers round the snout, round clear eyes, rounded ears, short legs with four toes on the front feet and five toes on the back feet, thin long round tail (in some kinds the tail is hairy and in some it has little or no hair), size: 2½-3½ inch body length plus 3-4 inch long tail, and weight: 8-60 grams; feeds on just about anything – grain, seeds, buds, plant matter, insects (those living near human settlements eat cooked food, cheese or anything that the people eat); lives for about 1-4 years in the wild; about 38 (?) species of “true mice” closely related to the ‘house mouse’ which is the commonest of all mice (but mice in general are about 300 species (?)) found near the human settlements all over the world

male ~~ buck

female ~~ doe

baby ~~ kitten, pup (immediately after birth); pinky (little grown up but no hair); fuzzy (little more grown up with a little hair); hopper (with full hair and completely grown – just about to be an adult)

group ~~ pack, mischief, nest, colony, harvest, horde (depending on the size of the group)

voice (call) ~~ squeak, peep

home ~~ nest, burrow

movement ~~ scurry, hop, jump

Some common mice are: house mouse, field mouse, harvest mouse, tree mouse, deer mouse, wood mouse ,‘pet mouse or fancy mouse’ – the domesticated house mouse used as pets

Special Features:
The ‘mouse’ has been associated with people for thousands of years; and, in fact, the word ‘mouse’ was used some 4,000 years ago to mean ‘to steal’!

Mice are the smallest mammals ever to be domesticated, and the hobby of ‘mouse breeding’ has been in practice since ancient times!

In ancient Greek culture, mice were worshipped, and used for telling the future; in ancient Chinese culture, mice were used in religious ritual; ancient Japanese believed that the mice were messengers from gods; in Hindu religion, even to this day, the mouse (or rat or shrew)has been worshipped as the means of transport (like a vehicle) to Lord Ganesh, with temples where mice and rats are worshipped and fed; medieval sailors and miners used mice to test the air quality; and in recent times mice are extensively used in scientific studies and laboratory experiments, and these small mammals have been sent into space!

Mice have been mentioned in several stories and fables. The Walt Disney Company’s famous comic character ‘Mickey Mouse’ has been entertaining children and adults since1920. The most popular cartoon character ‘Jerry’ in “Tom & Jerry” is a mouse; the character ‘Stuart’ in the film “Stuart Little” (1999 – 2002) is an adorable little mouse.

Mice, in general, are pests! They spoil crops, food products; and they (or the insects that live on them, like fleas) are known to carry diseases.

However, mice are eaten as food in some parts of the world, and are kept as pets in many homes around the world. There are several types bred for the pet trade, and the complete white “pet mouse or fancy mouse” is the most popular pet mouse!

*The ‘Egyptian spiny mouse’ feeds entirely on bat guano (= bat droppings… bat shit)!

To know the difference between a mouse and a rat, please click here.

mouse deer

Not all animals with ‘mouse’ in their name are mice. The ‘mouse deer’ is not a mouse, but a small grass-eating animal, like a deer or antelope; however, the ‘deer mouse’ is a mouse; it is called ‘deer’ mouse because of its fur (hair) colour that resembles that of a deer! For an article about Indian ‘mouse deer’, please click here, and for an article about ‘deer mouse’, please click here.

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