African spiny mouse
-
What is an African spiny mouse?
The African spiny mouse (genus Acomys) is a small to medium-sized rodent with spiny hairs on its upper body, large eyes and ears, and a scaly, nearly bald tail that easily breaks off.
They are omnivorous ground dwellers found in rocky, partially vegetated habitats from Africa through southwestern Asia. Most are nocturnal, but some are active in the morning and evening. They den in rock crevices, termite mounds, or other rodentsā burrows. Two East African species can slough off patches of skin to escape predators, with the wounds healing rapidly.
Classifications range from 14 to 19 species. Once grouped with Old World rats and mice, dental and molecular data now place them in a separate subfamily, Acomyinae.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where do African spiny mice live?
African spiny mice live in northern, eastern, and southern Africa, as well as in southwestern Asia and southern Pakistan, ranging eastward to the Indus River. They can also be found in southern Turkey and on the islands of Cyprus and Crete.
These ground dwellers inhabit rocky, partially vegetated deserts, savannas, and dry woodlands, and they den in rock crevices, termite mounds, or other rodentsā burrows. The Cairo spiny mouse has the most extensive distribution, from northern Africa to the Indus River, and lives near or with humans in some parts of its range. The most restricted is A. cilicicus, which is known only from a single locality in southern Turkey.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What do African spiny mice look like?
African spiny mice are small to medium-sized rodents known for the spiny, inflexible hairs on their upper body. They have large eyes and ears, along with scaly, almost hairless tails that are about the same length as, or shorter than, their bodies. Their tails are fragile and can easily break off.
Spiny mice vary in size and color depending on the species. The golden spiny mouse can grow up to 25 cm long, while the Cape spiny mouse reaches only about 10 cm. Their fur can be gray, grayish-yellow, brownish-red, or reddish. Some golden spiny mice and Cairo spiny mice can even be melanistic (black).
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What do African spiny mice eat?
African spiny mice are omnivorous, with plant materials making up most of their diet. For example, some Cairo spiny mice in Egypt primarily consume dates. However, some have been observed eating dried flesh and bone marrow from mummies inside tombs in Gebel Drunka.
These ground dwellers live in rocky, partially vegetated deserts, savannas, and dry woodlands, making their homes in rock crevices, termite mounds, or other rodentsā burrows. Most species are nocturnal, but some are more active during early morning and evening. The golden spiny mouse is diurnal and shares habitats with the Cairo spiny mouse, with the two species exploiting the same food resources at different times.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why are they called 'spiny' mice?
African spiny mice are named for the harsh, inflexible spiny hairs that cover their upper body. These hairs are a distinguishing feature of the various species within the Acomys genus. Though the primary function of hair in mammals is to insulate against heat loss, hair can also serve as sensory organs or play a role in social communication.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is special about how African spiny mice can heal their skin?
The African spiny mouse stands out due to its exceptional skin-healing abilities. When escaping predators, Kempās spiny mouse and Percivalās spiny mouse, both native to East Africa, can shed patches of their skin. The remaining wounds can shrink significantly within 24 hours and are covered by new skin at roughly twice the speed of similar wounds in adult rats.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
African spiny mouse, (genus Acomys), any of more than a dozen species of small to medium-sized rodents characterized by the harsh, inflexible spiny hairs of their upperparts. African spiny mice have large eyes and ears and scaly, nearly bald tails that are shorter than or about as long as the body. The tail is brittle and breaks off readily either as a whole or in part. The golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus), found from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, is one of the largest, with a body up to 25 cm (9.8 inches) long and a shorter tail of up to 7 cm. The Cape spiny mouse (A. subspinosus) of South Africa is one of the smallest, with a body up to 10 cm long and a tail of less than 2 cm. Depending upon the species, fur covering the upperparts may be gray, grayish yellow, brownish red, or reddish. Black (melanistic) individuals occur in populations of the golden spiny mouse and the Cairo spiny mouse (A. cahirinus).
African spiny mice are omnivorous, though plant materials form the bulk of their diet. In Egypt some Cairo spiny mice eat mostly dates, but others have been reported to consume the dried flesh and bone marrow of mummies in the tombs of Gebel Drunka, southwest of Asyut. All species are ground dwellers, and most are nocturnal, some being more active during early morning and evening. The golden spiny mouse is diurnal and occupies the same habitat as the Cairo spiny mouse, which is its nocturnal counterpartāthe two species exploit the same food resources but at different times. Females of certain species will assist mothers during birth by biting the umbilical cord and licking and cleaning the newborn mice.
Two species native to East Africa, Kempās spiny mouse (A. kempi) and Percivalās spiny mouse (A. percivali), possess the ability to slough off patches of skin when attempting to escape capture from predators. The wounds that remain, which may be painful in appearance, may shrink dramatically within the first 24 hours after the injury. They are covered over by new skin at a rate roughly twice as fast as for wounds of similar size and shape that might occur in adult rats.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
African spiny mice range through the northern, eastern, and southern regions of Africa eastward through southwestern Asia and southern Pakistan to the Indus River. They are also found in southern Turkey and on the islands of Cyprus and Crete. Living in rocky, partially vegetated deserts, savannas, and dry woodlands, they den in rock crevices, termite mounds, or other rodentsā burrows. The Cairo spiny mouse has the most extensive distribution, extending from northern Africa to the Indus River; it lives near or with humans in some parts of its range. The most restricted is A. cilicicus, which is known only from a single locality in southern Turkey.
Different authorities classify African spiny mice into as few as 14 species and as many as 19. The genus was once grouped with other Old World rats and mice of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, but analyses of dental and molecular data suggest that the African spiny mice form a distinctive and separate subfamily, Acomyinae. Other African rodents proved to be close relatives of African spiny mice and were also reclassified in this subfamily; these are Ruddās mouse (Uranomys ruddi), the Congo forest mouse (Deomys ferrugineus), and brush-furred rats (genus Lophuromys).
Fossils of extinct species trace the ancestry of African spiny mice to the Late Miocene Epoch (11.2 million to 5.3 million years ago) in Africa, where they probably lived in habitats not unlike the dry savannas in which existing species are found.