A Look at the Meadow Jumping Mouse

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Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus hudsonius) Abstract This project revolved around a preliminary study of the Meadow Jumping Mouse, Zapus hudsonius. To start, literature research was obtained. The literature research provided coloration and size length that was helpful in identifying the mouse in the wild. Once basic information was gathered, trappings were done to confirm the literature. Two different trapping occasions occurred, with only one being successful. The successful trapping provided two Meadow Jumping Mice to observe. These two mice were examined to confer what was read in the literature and then let to go to examine their behaviors. Introduction Classification The Meadow Jumping Mouse is classified in the Order Rodentia, Superfamily Dipodoidea, Family Zapodidae, and Subfamily Zapodinae. A few of the local extant species of the genus Zapus are: Z. hudsonius, Z. princeps, and Z. trinotatus. The Meadow Jumping Mouse is given the scientific name Zapus hudsonius in reference to its large hind feet and the Hudson Bay area where it was first captured. Members of the Zapus genus are yellowish in color and have "four upper molariform teeth, the first much smaller than the others" (Whitaker 1972). Zapus hudsonius in comparison to the other members of the genus is noticeably smaller; as a result its other bodily characteristics are also smaller in comparison. Characteristics A few distinguishing characteristics of the Meadow Jumping Mouse include: long hind limbs (usually at least half the length of the body); eight teats (two pectoral, four abdominal, and two inguinal; a yellowish pelage color contrasted by a dark longitudinal band separating the white dorsal surface (Whitaker 1972). With a compact and slender body form it can be distinguished from the Woodland Jumping Mouse because it does not have a white-tipped

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