Cotton Mouse

Cotton Mouse
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Cricetidae
Subfamily:	Neotominae
Genus:	Peromyscus
Species group:	P. leucopus
Species:	P. gossypinus
Binomial name
Peromyscus gossypinus (Le Conte, 1850)

The Cotton Mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in the woodlands of the south-eastern states of the United States. Adults are about 7-8 inches, and have an appearance very similar to the white footed mouse. The cotton mouse is larger in size and has a longer skull and hind-feet. They have a dark brown body and white feet and belly. The name comes from the fact they often use cotton for nest construction, discovered by Le Conte.

Cotton mice are omnivorous, and eat seeds and insects. Breeding may occur throughout the year, and usually occurs in early spring and fall. They may have four litters a year of up to seven young, which are helpless and naked at birth. Cotton mice are weaned from their mother at 20–25 days, and become sexually mature around two months. Average life span is four to five months, with a rare few living to one year. They are preyed upon by owls, snakes, weasels, and bobcats.

One subspecies, the Chadwick Beach Cotton Mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus restrictus) was last seen in 1938 and is now presumed extinct.

References

• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Cotton Mouse
• LeConte Cotton Mice