Thumb-sized mouse rescued from extinction
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance / AP
- Published
A mouse the size of a thumb has made an exciting return in the USA.
The Pacific pocket mouse is one of the smallest mammals in North America, measuring under 4 centimetres long.
And at one point it was thought to be extinct.
But thanks to the efforts of conservationists, this tiny creature is making a comeback.
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Why are Pacific pocket mice endangered?
The mouse is the same size as a human thumb - as pictured here
The Pacific pocket mice habitats had been destroyed by urban development - the building of new towns, cities and roads.
It was thought the mouse had been lost forever, until a small population was found in 1993 in California.
For the past twenty years, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been working to support one of the country's most endangered mammals.
They have released 500 Pacific pocket mice into the wild in that time.
What is this? A school for mice?
A scientist observes a Pacific pocket mouse at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Associate Director Debra Shier said that in order to protect the species, wild mice were captured and bred in captivity.
She said the mice were also given training if it was found they weren't "competent" in some important life skills.
This means if the mice weren't good at foraging for food or protecting themselves from predators in a certain area, they were given help to improve those skills.
A bit like a mouse boot camp.
Looking to the future
A Pacific pocket mouse paw print measured by researchers at the Western Ecological Research Centre (WERC) in the US
"We selected an area that was suitable for them in terms of their habitat," Debra explained.
"And then we set up a fence around the area so that we could protect them from some of the terrestrial predators to limit the predation pressure that they were going to experience."
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance hope to create 10 separate populations of Pacific pocket mice, at which point the species will no longer be considered endangered.
"It's a huge effort to do one of these programs and to have them be successful," Debra explained.
"There are setbacks all the time but when we make progress toward recovery, it's... I don't even know how to describe it. It's career defining for me."
