Of Mice and Women
I was sitting on my patio the other night, enjoying a colorful sunset and some warm spring temperatures, when I heard a yelp of distress from across the courtyard. Since my neighbor isn’t usually given to yelping, I hurried over and found her standing on a chair, looking warily at the far corner of her patio.
“Is it a snake?” I asked.
“Worse,” she replied nervously.
Worse than a snake? Hmmmm . . . this had to be bad. So bad, in fact, that she couldn’t even tell me what it was; she just pointed. I crept a little closer and looked where she indicated. It took me a minute, but finally I spotted the ferocious beast. There, planning its next move from the cover of a potted plant was a mouse. An Arizona pocket mouse to be precise – all three-quarters of an ounce of it.
“I hate mice,” my neighbor said with a cringe.
Which lead me to wonder how these miniscule members of the rodent family earned such fear and disdain. After all, to get a grown woman to flee to such heights, they have to be pretty awful right?
Actually, the Sonoran Desert is home to some very interesting and resourceful rodents. Now, granted, mice and rats can carry and spread disease under certain circumstances. But here are some facts about our desert dwellers that just might make them seem a bit less frightening:
- Pocket mice seldom drink and conserve water by spending their days underground where it is cooler. When summer temperatures peak, some pocket mice become dormant. Also, their kidneys concentrate the urine to a viscous consistency, thereby reducing water loss.
- Kangaroo rats can jump up to nine feet in one bound – an effective skill for evading predators. They also can detect an owl’s silent approach and the movement of snakes.
- Arizona pocket mice have tan- to orange-colored fur that is softer than that of many other species of pocket mice.
- The teeth of Botta’s pocket gophers are continuously growing (at a rate of nine to 14 inches per year!) and must be kept trimmed by constant gnawing.
- Kangaroo rats and pocket mice feed primarily on seeds. Some species also eat insects and vegetation.
I don’t think these facts made my neighbor any happier with her little visitor, but at least she came down off the chair.
So, next time you see one of these little fellows on your patio (or out in the desert), just give him a little space and before you know it he’ll scurry off in search of more seeds for dinner.
