AnimalvsAnimal
HouseMouse🐭

Photo: DiegoDiegoDiego555 · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesRodentiaMuridae
Mammals

🐭House mouse

Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758

The house mouse is a small mammal of the rodent family Muridae, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus Mus. Although a wild animal, the house mouse has benefited significantly from associating with human habitation to the point that truly wild populations are significantly less common than the synanthropic populations near human activity.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
177
Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/3,030th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.02 kg
Body length
0.1 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
6 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the House mouse

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.02 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.02 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Body length
0.1 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Brain mass
0.44 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
6 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 4 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Generation length
1.72 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
65 days
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
20 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 19 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Litter size
about 6
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 7AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: high
Trophic level
Omnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
7,207 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for House mouse yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderRodentia
  5. ›familyMuridae
  6. ›genusMus
  7. ›speciesMus musculus
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderRodents · Rodentia
  3. suborderMyomorpha
  4. familyMuridae
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderEuarchontoglires
  11. orderRodents · Rodentia
  12. suborderMyomorpha
  13. familyMuridae
More

More about the House mouse

Closest relative on this site
🐭 Wood mouse — last shared an ancestor ≈ 25 million years ago.
What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants60%
insects and other invertebrates20%
seeds and grain20%
In other languages
Hausmaus (de), ev faresi (tr), Ποντικός (el), ratón doméstico (es), kotihiiri (fi), souris domestique (fr) … and 27 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

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Tools

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Side by side

Compare every stat with any other animal.

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1248th heaviest of 1,330Open →
Scaling lab

Does it punch above its weight? Its stats against what body size predicts.

1.23× predictedOpen →
Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

13 branchesOpen →