The San Joaquin pocket mouse or Salinas pocket mouse (''Perognathus inornatus'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family

Heteromyidae Heteromyidae is a family of rodents consisting of kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice and spiny pocket mice. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

where it lives in desert or semi-desert habitats.

Description

Pocket mice can be distinguished from similar smaller rodents by their externally opening fur-lined cheek pouches. They differ from the kangaroo mice in not having the soles of the feet entirely covered in fur. Kangaroo rats have fur-lined pockets, but they are larger, and have a dark stripe across the hips, and dark stripes on both the top and bottom surfaces of the tail. The San Joaquin pocket mouse has a total length of about , including a tail of . The tail has a short tuft of hairs at its tip. The fur on the head and body is short and soft, without spines or bristles. The colour is buff, and there is sometimes a pale patch at the base of the small rounded ears. The tail is identically coloured on its upper and lower surfaces.

Distribution

This pocket mouse is endemic to California in the United States. It is found in the

Tehachapi Mountains The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwe ...

and the lower slopes of the western

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

at elevations of up to . It also occurs in the upper

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

, the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

, the

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...

, and southwards to the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

. It occurs in the "Upper Sonoran

life zone The life zone concept was developed by C. Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation a ...

", characterized by grassland and semi-desert vegetation, and the "Lower Sonoran life zone", hot desert with

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...

and

Joshua tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names. This monocotyledonous tre ...

Ecology

The San Joaquin pocket mouse feeds on seeds of grasses and various plants, carrying them back to its burrow in its cheek pouches. It may also eat soft-bodied invertebrates. It stores seed surplus to its immediate requirements in the chambers inside the burrow for use at times of year when food is scarce. It may become torpid in winter. Breeding takes place between March and July, and there may be two or more litters of four to six young per year.

Status

''P. inornatus'' has a wide range and is common in suitable habitats within that range. It seems to be secure within its range, and no particular threats have been identified except in the north, where agricultural development is destroying and fragmenting its habitat. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has listed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1762699 Perognathus Endemic fauna of California Endemic rodents of the United States Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands Fauna of the Mojave Desert Fauna of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the Central Valley (California) San Joaquin Valley Taxa named by Clinton Hart Merriam ~ Mammals described in 1889 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot