Wood Mouse?

[Africa]

I found this dead mouse in the path near my home - in the middle of the city - this morning. I think it is a male and it looks like a wood mouse to me but I am not sure the habitat is right and I haven't seen that many Wood Mice. ID confirmation would be great.

[Alex90]

Yup, looks like a wood mouse to me ... HUUUGE ears as you'd expect

[vole-woman]

And big springy back legs.

I thought wood mice were pretty much ubiquitous?

[Africa]

Thank you Alex90 and vole-woman. The mouse had a head-neck injury probably inflicted by a cat, so it wouldn't surprise me that it had been taken from a local garden. We've got a healthy Tawny Owl population in my neighbourhood, so I guess there must be lots of mice around.

[Dogghound]

Yes a male woodmouse. They are a very wide ranging species and can be found in most habitats. Although they are uncommon in city centers, docks etc. Suburban areas and areas near railway banks, wooded areas, parks etc are usually good for urban populations.

[vole-woman]

How do you tell it's male, Dogghound?

[RKB]

You can't sex it from the picture, not at this time of year (and probably not generally - you need to have a thorough look). Females have a rather large clit0ris which looks a lot like a pen1s, and you need to check the distance of the perineum, and descended testes/nipples on breeding animals.

btw, you can tell it's not a house mouse by the clean white underparts contrasting with the sandy brown flanks and back. House mice tend to be a similar greyish colour all over (but varies), generally without the marked contrast on the belly.

[Pigeon feather]

It's a very obvious male woodmouse looking at that pic!

[Dogghound]

You can see by the distance between its anus and penile shaft. Which is longer than the length between the anus and the urethral orifice in females which is short and not between the legs further back. You can see that the penile shaft is to far forward to be a female, the testicles are not really needed here as this anogenital distance is clear.