#Pocket mouse pictures Patch#

The mouse is presumed to feed on the seeds of grasses and forbs, and its predators are thought to include owls, hawks, foxes, skunks, and snakes. Information on other species in the Perognathus genus suggests that the TWPM is active at night, forages on open ground and beneath shrubs, and burrows in loose soil for cover.

The subspecies has been found in small numbers in annual grasslands, pinyon-juniper woodland, Joshua tree woodland, Jeffrey pine forest, and sagebrush and rabbitbrush scrub, at elevations between 3,500 – 6,000 ft. alticolus restricted to the San Bernardino Mountains.ĭue to a lack of scientific data on the TWPM, its biology and habitat needs are not well defined. The two subspecies differ in geographic range, with P. Compared to its relative the white-eared pocket mouse ( Perognathus alticola alticola), the TWPM is larger and has a darker tail. Males and females average 6.5 and 5.9 inches in total length, respectively. The tail is black at the end and slightly exceeds the head-body in length.

#Pocket mouse pictures Patch#

The TWPM has a white patch at the base of the ear, an orange-brown back with a black wash, and a white underside. Physical IdentificationĪll pocket mice, including the TWPM, have fur-lined external cheek pouches that are used to collect seeds. With a population status that is not well understood, it is listed as a Species of Special Concern by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The subspecies was later renamed the TWPM, as its geographic range includes the Tehachapi Mountains. Huey, a zoologist with the San Diego Natural History Museum, named the subspecies the Mount Pinos Pocket Mouse and wrote that it had been discovered in a grassy area among Jeffrey pines. The Tehachapi white-eared pocket mouse (TWPM) is a subspecies of pocket mouse that was first discovered near Mount Pinos in 1926, when the Los Padres National Forest was still called the Santa Barbara National Forest.