There are fossils in North America of the ancestors of P. leucopus from the Oligocene Epoch, about 40 million years ago.
White-footed mice have keen eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell. They use their vibrissae (whiskers) as touch receptors. A distinctive behavior of white-footed mice is drumming on a hollow reed or a dry leaf with their front paws. This produces a long musical buzzing. It is unclear why white-footed mice do this.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
White-footed mice are not endangered or threatened. They are abundant throughout their range.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
These mice carry deer ticks, which spread Lyme disease. They also may be a reservoir of Four-Corners disease. Their fecal matter contains hantavirus, the organism that causes this disease.
They also hinder the growth of trees such as oaks and pines because they eat so many of the seeds.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (carries human disease)
White-footed mice help spread various kinds of fungi by eating the sporing bodies and excreting spores. Forest trees' ability to take up nutrients is enhanced by the " mycorrhizal" associations formed by these fungi. For many temperate forest trees, these fungi have been shown to be an essential element in order for trees to prosper. White-footed mice also help control populations of some harmful insect pests, such as gypsy moths.
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
White-footed mice are often abundant where they occur and are important as prey items for many small predators.
Peromyscus leucopus is omnivorous. Diet varies seasonally as well as geographically and may include seeds, berries, nuts, insects, grains, fruits, and fungi. Since they do not hibernate, even in cold weather, in the fall they store seeds and nuts for the winter.
Animal Foods: insects
Plant Foods: leaves; wood, bark, or stems; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit; flowers
Other Foods: fungus
Foraging Behavior: stores or caches food
Primary Diet: omnivore
White-footed mice are found throughout most of the eastern United States. The easternmost part of their range extends from Nova Scotia in the north to Virginia in the south. They occur as far west as Saskatchewan and throughout the plains states, extending through eastern Mexico to southern Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula.
(Wilson and Ruff, 1999)
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
White-footed mice live in a wide variety of habitats but are most abundant in warm, dry forests and brushlands at middle elevations. They are the most abundant small rodent in mixed forests in the eastern United States and in brushy areas bordering agricultural lands. In the southern and western portions of their range they are more restricted in distribution, occurring mainly in wooded areas and semi-desert scrub near waterways. In southern Mexico they occur mainly in agricultural areas. They build nests in places that are warm and dry, such as a hollow tree or vacated bird's nest. Their home ranges vary from 1/2 to 1 1/2 acres with 4 to 12 mice per acre.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: chaparral ; forest ; scrub forest
Most white-footed mice live for one year in the wild. This means that there is an almost complete replacement of all mice in the population from one year to the next. Most mortality occurs in the spring and early summer.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 1.0 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 3.0 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: captivity: 1.5 (high) years.
Total length ranges from 150 to 205 mm and tail length from 65 to 95 mm. Weight ranges from 15 to 25 g. The upperparts of the body are pale to rich reddish brown and the belly and feet are white. In some parts of the range it is difficult to distinguish P. leucopus from other, closely related species, such as P. maniculatus, P. eremicus, P. polionotus, and P. gossypinus. They differ from P. eremicus by being larger and the soles of its hind feet are furred in the heel region. P. maniculatus has a generally longer tail that is distinctly bicolored, rather than indistinctly bicolored in P. leucopus. P. gossypinus can usually be distinguished by their longer hindfoot, greater than 22 mm, whereas P. leucopus is generally less than 22mm. P. polionotus is generally smaller than P. leucopus. Other North American species of Peromyscus can generally be distinguished from P. leucopus by tail length. ( http://sevilleta.unm.edu/animal/mammal/white-fotted_mouse.html, 1995; Lackey, et. al. 1985, Wilson and Ruff, 1999).
Range mass: 15.0 to 25.0 g.
Average mass: 23 g.
Range length: 150.0 to 205.0 mm.
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.213 W.
White-footed mice are active primarily at night and are secretive and alert, thus avoiding many predators. They are abundant in many habitats and are the major diet item of many small predators.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Males have home ranges that overlap with multiple females, providing access to multiple mating opportunities. Pups in a single litter often have different fathers.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
In northern populations of this mouse, breeding is seasonal, mostly occurring in spring and late summer or fall but extends from March through October. In southern populations breeding seasons are longer and in southern Mexico breeding occurs year round. The gestation period is from 22 to 28 days. Longer gestation periods may result from delayed implantation in females still nursing their young from a previous litter. Young are blind when born. Their eyes usually open about 2 weeks after birth, and the young are weaned about 1 week later. They are ready to mate at an average age of 44 days in northern populations and 38 days in southern populations. They can have 2 to 4 litters a year, each containing 2 to 9 young. The litter size increases with each birth, peaks at the fifth or sixth litter, then decreases. White-footed mice may live several years in captivity but in the wild there is almost complete population replacement each year. ( http:// sevilleta.unm.edu/animal/mammal/white-footed_mouse.html,1995, Wilson and Ruff, 1999).
Breeding interval: White-footed mice can have 2 to 4 litters per year.
Breeding season: White-footed mice breed from March to October, or throughout the year in the southern parts of their range.
Range number of offspring: 2.0 to 9.0.
Average number of offspring: 5.0.
Range gestation period: 28.0 (high) days.
Average gestation period: 22.0 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 44.0 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 44.0 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); viviparous
Average birth mass: 1.89 g.
Average number of offspring: 4.5.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 73 days.
Young are born blind, naked, and helpless. Their eyes open at about 12 days old and their ears open at about 10 days old. Females care for and nurse their young in the nest until they are weaned. Soon after that the young disperse from their mother's range. If the young or the nest are endangered, female white-footed mice will carry their young one at a time to a safer location.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
