[ **up: [[Rodents]] | [[Mus (Genus)]] | [[Muridae (Family)]] | [[Dendromus (Genus)]]** ] --- # Chestnut climbing mouse (*Dendromus mystacalis) --- ## Taxonomy *Dendromus mystacalis* Heuglin, 1863.[^1] - **[[Life (Biology)]]** - **[[Eukaryotes|Eukaryota (Domain)]]** - **[[Animals|Animalia (Kingdom)]]** - [[Mammals|Mammalia (Class)]] - [[Therians|Theria (Subclass)]] - [[Placentals|Eutheria (Infraclass)]] - [[Rodents|Rodentia (Order)]] - [[Muridae (Family)]] - *[[Dendromus (Genus)]]* - *[[Chestnut climbing mouse|Dendromus mystacalis]]* <small>CHESTNUT CLIMBING MOUSE</small> --- ## Description Chestnut climbing mice very small; “much smaller than any of the other species of [[Muridae (Family)|murids]]”, with the exception of *[[African pygmy mouse|Mus minutoides]]*—which is “equally small”.[^2] Has a dark stripe down the back.[^3] --- ## Distribution ### Africa > It is found in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[^4] --- ## Habitat Both dry and moist savannahs.[^5] > They are found in grassland, predominantly associated with rank vegetation, especially stands of high coarse grasses such as *Hyparrhenia* sp., 1 – 2 m in height, in which they climb around at night in search of food. Taylor (1998b) recorded them in dense vegetation in a suburban garden.[^6] --- ## Habits > They are nocturnal, terrestrial and to some extent arboreal, as they build their ball-shaped nests during the early part of the warm, wet season in low bushes and in trees up to about 2 m from the ground in common with other *Dendromus* spp. Their long tails may be loosely twined around grass stems or twigs to assist in steadying them when climbing. They engage in some subterranean activity, but it is not known whether they excavate their own burrows or use the burrows of other species. However, they have been dug out of dung beetle chambers about 450 mm underground (R. Boulton, pers. comm.). They use nests until about May or June for resting and in which to have their young; fresh nests are constructed the following season. The nests, 80 – 100 mm in diameter, are woven into several stems of tall grass or the twigs of bushes, and have a single side-entrance. They have been recorded using disused weaver and bishop bird nests (Jacobsen, 1977). The nests are used primarily for rearing their young and the whole family party uses them even after the young are weaned, and perhaps until the young disperse, before the onset of cold weather.[^7] --- ## Food Granivorous and insectivorous.[^8] --- ## Reproduction > Litters have been observed in nests in Zimbabwe between January and March, three to four constituting a litter. Rautenbach (1982) took a pregnant female with eight foetuses in March in the former Transvaal.[^9] [^1]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 145. [^2]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 202. [^3]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 145. [^5]: ‘Chestnut climbing mouse’, *Wikipedia*, updated 13 February 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_climbing_mouse. [^4]: ‘Chestnut climbing mouse’, *Wikipedia*, updated 13 February 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_climbing_mouse. [^9]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 203. [^6]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 203. [^7]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 203. [^8]: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.), *[[Skinner & Chimimba. 'The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion', 2005.|The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion]]*, 3rd edn. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2005), p. 203.