Deer Mouse

About the Deer Mouse

The eastern deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) is a rodent native to eastern North America. It is a species of the genus Peromyscus, a closely related group of New World mice often called "deermice". When formerly grouped with the western deermouse (P. sonoriensis), it was once referred to as the North American deermouse, a species that is no longer recognized. It is fairly widespread across most of North America east of the Mississippi River, with the major exception being the lowland Southeastern United States.

Like certain other Peromyscus species, it can be a vector and carrier of emerging infectious diseases such as hantaviruses and Lyme disease. It is closely related to Peromyscus leucopus, the white-footed mouse. The species in its former broad sense had 61 subspecies, but some of these now belong to P. sonoriensis. They are all tiny mammals that are plentiful in number. The eastern deermouse is a small rodent that lives in eastern North America and is closely related to the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus. Because the two species are extremely similar in appearance, they are best distinguished through red blood cell agglutination tests or karyotype techniques... Wikipedia →