A Checklist To The 7 Mice Of Sri Lanka

1
The Ceylon Field Mouse
The home of the Ceylon Field Mouse stretches from Sri Lanka to Cambodia. It happily populates almost all kinds of habitats. It is often called the Fawn Colour Mouse for its light fur and grows to little more than 15 centimetres in length, nose to tail.

2
The Ceylon Highland Long Tailed Tree Mouse
The endemic Ceylon Highland Long Tailed Tree Mouse is an increasingly rare creature, little more than 21 centimetres in length, nose to tail. It is found in Sri Lanka’s hill country where it lives in trees, venturing out only by night. Like most mice, it has reddish brown fur, that occasionally grows darker and has small ears.

3
The Indian Field Mouse
Measuring a tiny 13 centimetres in length, nose to tail, the Indian Field Mouse is one of those mammals of the Indian subcontinent that has long term residency rights in Sri Lanka where it is found almost everywhere. It is all a mouse aims to be, with a small rounded hunched body, lovely rounded smooth ears, and light brown to white fur.

4
The Indian House Mouse
The almost domesticated Indian House Mouse is beloved of pet owners, science and, regrettably, is regularly used in laboratories. It is widely distributed across Asia and has become an almost tame companion to the humans its lives around. Rarely more than 20 centimetres in length, nose to tail, it is one of the world‘s most studied and understood mammals, its typical behavioural characteristics itemized even down to the differences exhibited if it lives in sandy dunes rather than an apartment.

5
The Indian Long-Tailed Tree Mouse
The Indian Long-Tailed Tree Mouse is also known as the Indian Long Tailed Climbing Mouse, and it is common throughout South and Southeast Asia. It grows to little more than twenty centimetres in length, nose to tail, and sports reddish brown fur that fades to white on its underparts. It is widely distributed – but not a creature to go out of your way to befriend for it is notorious for spreading the tick-borne viral Kyasanur Forest Disease that causes headaches, chills, muscle pain, and vomiting.

6
Mayor’s Spiny Mouse
The endemic Mayor’s Spiny Mouse comes in two (still quite widespread) variants – Mus Mayori Mayori, which inhabit the hill country; and Mus Mayori Pococki which prefers the low wetlands. Both are covered with reddish grey fur and have small ears. Seeing them is also a challenge for they are both nocturnal creatures. One of their more interesting (albeit worrying) points of mouse difference is their capacity to carry quite so many other creatures on them: from mites, ticks, and sucking louses to small scorpions.

7
The Sri Lankan Spiny Mouse
The endemic Sri Lankan Spiny Mouse is now so endangered that it can be seen in a few locations. A mere maximum of 18 centimetres length, from nose to tail, its reddish grey back, and sides morph into white underparts, with huge, gorgeous smooth scooped out ears that stand like parasols above large dark eyes.