09/02/2026
🐭 Wildlife Wednesday: Small Mammal Edition
The Meadow Jumping Mouse
Last week we featured the woodland jumping mouse and this week we will meet its "cousin", the meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius)!
How to tell them apart:
🔍 Tail: Woodland jumping mice have a white-tipped tail, while meadow jumping mice have brown throughout the length of their tail.
🎨 Color: Meadow jumping mice are duller/more olive-brown; woodland jumping mice run brighter and more orange.
🏡 Habitat: Meadow jumping mice like grassy fields and wet meadows; woodland jumping mice stick to forests near streams and bogs.
Both have giant hind feet and an extra-long tail for leaping several feet in a single jump!
✨ Fun facts: Meadow jumping mice are surprisingly strong swimmers, drum their tails on the ground when alarmed, and pack on serious fat each fall to fuel a hibernation that can last 6+ months underground.
📍 Meadow jumping mice are found across New York, and there was a comprehensive ecological study conducted at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (Whitaker 1963). This study is still cited in mammal research today!
📷 We don't have any confirmed sightings on our trail cameras though, because these mice are so small and fast! Getting a positive ID from trail camera footage is tough. Researchers actually design special low, bucket-style camera rigs just to survey animals like this (picture of this below).
Photo credit: Larry Master, Master Images
