Cotton mouse
species of mammal
The cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is a species of the genus Peromyscus, a closely related group of New World mice often called "deermice". It is endemic to the woodlands of the Southern United States.
Description
Adults are about 180 mm (7.1 in) long, with a tail around 78 mm (3.1 in), and weigh 34-51 g. Its general appearance is very similar to the white-footed mouse, but the cotton mouse is larger in size and has a longer skull and hind feet. They have dark brown bodies and white feet and bellies.
The common name derives from the observed habit of using raw cotton in building nests.
One subspecies, the Chadwick Beach cotton mouse (P. g. restrictus) was last seen in 1938 and is now presumed extinct. Another subspecies, the Key Largo cotton mouse (P. g.
The public source identifies “Cotton mouse” as species of mammal. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cotton, mouse and species.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cotton mouse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.