The New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse

by Casey Ting

Description and Ecology

The New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus) is primarily endemic to New Mexico, but is also found in Arizona and a small part of southern Colorado. In terms of appearance, the Jumping Mouse ranges from 7.4 to 10 inches long and has yellowish-brown and gray fur, elongated feet, and a long tail. They are generally nocturnal animals and hibernate longer than most mammals (about nine months). Their diet consists of mainly insects (i.e. larvae and beetles), but also includes grass seeds, fruits, and fungi. Though they create their nests in dry soil, the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mice utilize moist wetlands for vegetation purposes. As an animal that loves water, their habitats are often located near water sources and streams, ranging from 0.37 to 2.7 acres.

(Jumping Mouse habitat)

Geographic and Population Changes

Since the 1980s, the number of mouse populations has decreased significantly. Seventy previously inhabited locations are now extirpated, leaving only twenty-nine surviving populations since 2005. Of these twenty-nine populations, all of the habitats do not have a sufficient amount of land to support the populations. Additionally, eleven of these twenty-nine populations have been threatened and hurt by water shortages, grazing, wildfire, and post-fire flooding.

(Jumping Mouse populations in New Mexico & Arizona)

Listing Date and Type

Due to the extreme decline in the mouse populations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse as “endangered” on July 7, 2014.

Main Threats

The main threat for the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse lies in habitat modification and fragmentation. Threats like grazing and water management/usage results in vegetation loss due to mowing and drying of soils. Additionally, due to climate change, there is a lack of water, drought, and wildfires that are detrimental to the mice populations. Other threats include floods, loss of beaver ponds, highway construction, methane development, and unregulated recreation.

Recovery Plan

The recovery needs of the Jumping Mouse can be categorized into three factors: resiliency, redundancy, and representation. Because the populations of the mice are too small, they are not resilient enough to maintain themselves, especially when factors such as climate change and wildfire threaten the environment. This stems into low redundancy, in which the mice populations cannot expand due to their small and isolated condition. While some diversity of populations is maintained, only half of the conservation areas have multiple populations. All of these factors contribute to an overall low species viability, making the probability of the Jumping Mouse becoming extinct within the next ten years very likely.

The FWS has focused its recovery plan on ensuring that populations are stabilized, restored, and able to expand. Some of its goals are to establish partnerships with other organizations to install barriers, modify livestock management techniques (i.e. fencing, grazing units, water development, etc.), and protect habitats from the threats mentioned above. A more research-oriented focus of the recovery plan includes determining the current the amount of mice populations, researching the genetic diversity of the populations, and studying important aspects of the Jumping Mouse’s life history (i.e. reproduction, abundance, survival, movement behavior).

For more information, check out this website: http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=A0BX

Sources:

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/NewMexico/NMMJM.cfm

http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/PageServer?pagename=species_mammals_NM_meadow_jumping_mouse#.VmDAeOODGkp

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/home/?cid=stelprd3809040