Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

Waldmaus

1873 entries

Wood mouse

Rote Liste NRW: u Ungefährdet

  entry

Apodemus sylvaticus

The Wood Mouse belongs to the long-tailed mice genus. It has a head-and-body length of 8-10 cm and a tail length of 7-11 cm. Large, black button eyes and large round-oval ears make it a popular creature.
Unlike their name implies, Wood Mice do not just inhabit forests but actually prefer open habitats like gardens and park landscapes. Depending on the season they feed on fruits, nuts, beechnuts, seeds and other plant parts, but also insects and other invertebrate animals. Reproduction takes place during the summer half of the year. Wood Mouse females can have offspring up to three times during this time and give birth to up to eight young.

Wood Mice are widely distributed in Europe. North Rhine-Westphalia is populated area-wide. Gaps in the records of the raster map are probably based on incomplete data. The Wood Mouse in some areas occurs in the same habitat as the closely related Yellow-necked Mouse. There are indications that the population density of the two species fluctuates counter-cyclically

Author

Jan Ole Kriegs

Citation

Kriegs JO (2024): Waldmaus (Apodemus_sylvaticus).In: AG Säugetierkunde NRW — Online-Atlas of the mammals of North Rhine-Westphalia. Downloaded from saeugeratlas-nrw.lwl.org on 2024/12/21