Woodland jumping mouse
Napaeozapus insignis
— Where the name comes from
Napaeozapus places the Greek napaîos, “of the wooded valleys” — from the napaeae, the nymphs of shady dells — in front of Zapus, the big foot. Insignis is Latin for “notable, marked”: it alludes to the white tip of the tail, which in the dark of the understorey is the only thing visible as the animal flees.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Rodents
- Habitat
- Damp coniferous and broadleaf woodland, stream banks, fern beds
- Range
- Eastern Canada and the United States Appalachians
- Size
- 8–10 cm of body, tail 11–16 cm, 17–35 g
- Diet
- Underground fungi, seeds, berries, insects
- Lifespan
- 4 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It jumps up to two and a half metres, the record among North American rodents for its size.
- 02
Much of its diet is an underground fungus of the genus Endogone.
- 03
It lays in no stores: it hibernates relying only on accumulated fat.
— What sets it apart
The white tip of the tail is a target, and that is exactly its purpose. The favoured hypothesis is that it works as a decoy for nocturnal predators: in the animal’s disorderly leaps the only thing reflecting the little light is that pale brush, moving unpredictably and away from the body. The owl strikes the tail, the animal escapes. It is the same logic as a lizard’s shed tail, achieved without sacrificing anything.
