Endangered
Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
Reithrodontomys raviventris
The salt-marsh harvest mouse, also known as the red-bellied harvest mouse, is an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area salt marshes in California.
Appearance
The northern subspecies is also dorsally brown or reddish brown, but the venters tend to be white or cream, and rarely with a hint of reddish. Tail length is usually about 120% of the body length. Its many predators include hawk, snake and owl species, as well as shorebirds and larger mammals.
An adult's length is 5–7 centimetres (2.0–2.8 in) and a tail length of 6–10 centimetres (2.4–3.9 in).
Range and habitat
The salt-marsh harvest mouse, also known as the red-bellied harvest mouse, is an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area salt marshes in California.
NatureServe considers the species Critically Imperiled.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
In a 2019 study on the food preferences of the salt-marsh harvest mouse, it was concluded that the species has a much more flexible diet than assumed years prior. Males and females also differ in the structural complexity of their occupied habitat during fall and summer (breeding season), but occupy the same habitat during winter and spring.
In crisis
It has been on the endangered lists since the 1970s, and has protected habitat within numerous Bay Area wildlife refuges. Individual political jurisdictions have conducted research and established habitat protection strategies to protect the salt marsh harvest mouse. Researchers, such as Katherine Smith of California Department of Fish and Wildlife, are at the forefront of research helping to identify how threats like climate change impact the species, while increasing the understanding of its biology, ecology, and behavior.
Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, Wikidata item Q1762859. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
