This mouse was confused for a long time with its European relative, with whom it has many external similarities, although it is much larger. And only in 1894 the yellow-necked mouse was isolated into a separate species. The Red Book of the Moscow Region was replenished with this rodent in 2008.
Spread
This small animal lives in the forest zone and mountain forest zone of the European part of the countries of the former Soviet Union and Western Europe. The habitat extends to the north, up to the coast of the Baltic countries and the Karelian Isthmus. Then the northern border passes through the Kalinin, Gorky and Novgorod regions, Tatarstan. In the southwestern regions of Odessa region and in the south of the Carpathians, the border of the range passes along the right bank of the Dnieper, through Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Lugansk and slightly north of Volgograd goes to the Volga. Along the right bank, it goes up to Saratov and smoothly flows on the left bank to the forest-steppe regions of the Volga region.
The yellow-throated mouse, whose photo we posted in this article, lives in the forests of the Caucasus, Crimea, the lower reaches of the Sudak and Terek rivers.
Where does the yellow-throated mouse live?
The most common animal in deciduous forests. It prefers tall oak forests, while the population is especially numerous in mountain beech forests. It occurs in mixed forests, in the presence of broad-leaved species. Unlike an ordinary forest mouse, it is little adapted to life in shaded, tall, old plantings. As a rule, it does not go beyond the boundaries of forests, especially in the central and eastern areas of distribution.
In the winter, the yellow-throated mouse is also found in farm and residential buildings. It damages crops and vegetables.
Yellow-throated mouse: description
A small rodent, whose body length is from ten to fourteen centimeters. To this must be added a thirteen-centimeter tail. For this size mouse, the length of the feet seems very large - up to 2.8 cm. The ears are large, up to 2 cm high.
On the back, the fur is colored red with a brown or ocher tint. A narrow black strip is clearly visible along the back. The abdomen is whitish, although the very base of the hair is dark. A large oval or rounded yellow spot is located on the chest.
The skull of adults is massive and slightly angular. The sides are narrower and flattened on top. On the upper part of the head, crest-like ridges are developed, which begin between the eyes and continue until they join with the crests of the scaly bone. The nasal section is elongated, the incisal openings are wide and practically not narrowing.
Lifestyle
The yellow-throated mouse is predominantly active at night or at dusk. The rodent settles mainly in the hollows of trees at different heights - from the basal area to twelve meters. In addition, this mouse digs holes under the roots. They can have rather long strokes, reaching a depth of one and a half meters, and extensive chambers where the hostess stores her supplies.
This species more often than other forest rodents settles in bird nests, especially if there are few hollows in the forest. The yellow-throated mouse is a pronounced eater. She especially likes the seeds of broad-leaved species: beech nuts, hazelnuts, acorns, maple seeds and linden. It eats the seeds of a new crop long before their final ripening. Winter stocks of this small animal reach four kilograms.
Breeding
The breeding season is long - it starts in early February and lasts until October. During this time, females at several intervals bring several broods - from two to four per year. Rodents from the first litter reach puberty in the same year. Pregnancy lasts from 26 to 28 days.
Progeny
Mice are born in a specially prepared nesting chamber, which a caring mother spreads with dry grass. There can be from two to ten (most often five). They are born completely helpless, naked and blind. The characteristic yellow collars in babies become clearly visible at the age of two weeks. Around the same time, they open their eyes. When the mice are eighteen days old, the female stops feeding offspring.
Economic value
The yellow-throated mouse is a pest of agricultural land. It damages carrots and potatoes, watermelons and tomatoes, sunflowers, as well as cereals both on the vine and in ricks. Cases have been recorded when in some areas in central Russia it was necessary to refuse to plant oak in the fall, as these rodents destroyed the planted acorns.
This variety is the carrier of many serious diseases. One of the most dangerous is tick-borne encephalitis. In 1992, scientists found that the yellow-throated mouse is the carrier of the cantavirus Dobrava-Belgrade, which causes a serious disease - hemorrhagic fever, complicated by renal syndrome.
Yellow-throated mouse: interesting facts
- This species, like most small animals, has a very high metabolic rate. In this regard, they very often take food. These animals are very voracious. This is confirmed by recalculating their body weight by the amount of feed absorbed. They are particularly capable of causing significant damage during the harvesting season for the winter. At this time, the mice collect grains, seeds, nuts, acorns and hide them in caches located next to the burrow. Interestingly, these mice never store feed in the hole itself.
- Running away from the enemy, the yellow-throated mouse makes several meter-long jumps, huge for her. If we compare the size of the body of this animal and the length of the jump, it becomes clear that this species significantly exceeds even the recognized champion in long jumps among mammals - the gray kangaroo. This possibility of the mouse is due to the special structure of the hind legs and their power.
- Large individuals of yellow-throated mice, being in the same cage as forest ones, kill, and after that they eat the last. Interestingly, in the natural environment, the ranges of these two species intersect, while there have been no cases of cannibalism. Probably, yellow-throated mice catch their smaller relatives only in a confined space.