Harvest Mice

by Stephanie Grant

Title

Harvest Mice

Artist

Stephanie Grant

Medium

Drawing - Drawing

Description

A colored pencil drawing on textured paper.
The Harvest mouse Micromys minutus is the smallest mammal in Britain with a head-body length of 5-8 cm and a prehensile tail of equal length. Although numbers are dwindling, they may still be found in cornfields, hedgerows and areas with long grass. They weave their hollow nests, about the size of a tennis ball, from grass strips shredded through their teeth and attached to grass stems. Several such nests are built throughout the season used for breeding, resting and sleeping. Harvest mice live for up to 18 months and have several litters of 3 to 8 young between May and October. They are most active at night but will forage on warm summer days building up stores of grass seeds, fruit, berries and grain to see them through the winter months, as they do not hibernate.
Their main predators are barn owls, stoats, weasels and crows; they are also under threat from severe winters and starvation; farming methods such as combine harvesting and the burning of stubble; and pesticides. Although they can be common locally they are nationally rare.

Uploaded

March 30th, 2017

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