Colours of Wildlife: Large-Eared Mouse
Created | Updated Nov 8, 2020
Large-Eared Mouse
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
Again I bring you a cute little mousie! I promise I haven't disneyfied it, you can look for yourself on Google, it really is this cute. This is a Large-Eared Mouse, Malacothrix typica. Besides its unusually large ears, it has distinctive black patches on its back, and a rather short tail. It is about the size of a house mouse, weighing 10-20 g, that is, less than half to almost one ounce. It occurs in the drier parts of Southern Africa, from southwestern Angola through Namibia to southern Botswana and western South Africa. It only avoids the very dry Namib Desert. Its favoured habitat is areas of hard ground with short grass and scrubby bushes, often in areas of pans, shallow depressions that fill with water only in years of good rains.
Strangely enough, this short-tailed little semi-desert mouse belongs to the Dendromurinae, a subfamily of mice characterized by the Climbing Mice of the genus Dendromus which means 'tree mouse'. Climbing mice are generally quite small and have long, semi-prehensile tails they use to assist them as they clamber around tall grass, bushes and trees. They also have very flexible and dextrous 'fingers' and toes, for climbing. Several climbing mice species occur over most of sub-Saharan Africa, except for the very dry and open regions which is where the large-eared mouse occurs. Apart from three other genera of climbing mice, the subfamily also includes three unusual species, each unique enough to warrant its own genus: the Large-eared Mouse, the Link Rat, and the Togo Mouse. Then it also includes the six or so species ofFat Mice, the typical one of which I've already described in the article above. The link rat is similar to the large-eared mouse in having enormous ears, but otherwise looks very different, being sleek, long-limbed and long-tailed. The Togo Mouse is another plump, short-tailed species, virtually unknown and possibly extinct.
Over its range, the large-eared mouse exhibits different coat colours, from reddish brown to buffy grey. This is likely to match local soil colour. The dark patches on its back might also be to break up its outline: there's a patch between its ears, a stripe along its back, and patches on its shoulders and hips. These can serve like the patched camouflage clothing worn by soldiers. But large-eared mice also try to keep out of sight by being active mainly by night, resting by day in burrows they dig in the hard soil. They close up the tunnel entrances by day. They are wary and difficult to catch in traps. They may freeze when they sense a threat, lying flat and trusting their camo, but will run away once a predator is upon them, heading for their tunnels. But you can actually catch them at night, by hand, with a flashlight! If you can find one, that is. It's as if somehow they don't quite 'grok' how flashlights work and reveal them while keeping their pursuers in the dark. When caught, they are tame and reluctant to bite. When they feel stressed, they make a sound my mammal book says to go like 'dzizz-dzizz-dzizz'.
Like most mice, large-eared mice are vegetarians, eating leaves and seeds. They are not known to eat any animal food.
Large-eared mice females can already give birth to pups at the age of 51 days! But sexual maturity in general is at the age of about 70 days. They can also have two litters a year. Gestation is about 26 days, and the litter size is two to six, with an average of just over three. They reach full adult size at about three months' age. They can live for two and a half years, perhaps longer, but like most small rodents, they suffer the depredations of a great many things: owls, falcons, eagles, snakes, large lizards, and a host of small mammalian carnivores. In general they are very widespread over areas with low human populations, and unlikely to be threatened.
