A Naturalist's Guide to Canyon Country by David Williams

Author:David Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falcon Guides
Published: 2020-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

A canyon deer mouse’s fur color varies depending upon environment, ranging from black in lava-rich areas to gray in granitic regions to reddish in canyon country. In southeast Utah, canyon deer mice are the most brightly colored Peromyscus. Like deer mice, canyon deer mice have smallish ears, but their tail is longer than their body, unlike deer mice.

Canyon deer mice seldom venture into brushy or tree-covered areas, but move easily through rocky terrain, running with their long, tufted tail arched over their back. Canyon deer mice have adapted to slickrock so well that they were the only mammals found on an isolated butte in Canyonlands National Park, accessible to people only by helicopter. They were seven times more abundant on the butte than in the surrounding area. Lack of competition seems to have allowed the canyon mouse population to explode and dominate the butte. They depend mostly upon seeds in their omnivorous diet.

BRUSH DEER MOUSE

Peromyscus boylii

Order Rodentia, Cricetidae family

Total 7⅛–9¾ in., tail 3⅝–4¾ in., brown above and white below

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