Jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius and Napaeozapus insignis) can easily be distinguished from all other mice in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by their long hind legs, large hind feet, and a tail that is considerably longer than the body. Meadow jumping mice inhabit open grassy areas and are one of the rarer species in the park. They are mainly nocturnal, and are active only during the warmer months. They hibernate during the colder winter months, usually in a lined burrow below the frost line.

Species Measurements:
- Adult Total Length: 185-225 mm (7?-8? in.)
- Tail: 110-150 mm (4?-5? in.)
- Hind Foot: 27-32 mm (1 1/16-1? in.)
- Weight: 12-28 g (?-1 oz.)

Physical Characteristics:
Jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius and Napaeozapus insignis) can easily be distinguished from all other mice in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by their long hind legs, large hind feet, and a tail that is considerably longer than the body. In addition, the deep orange or yellow upper incisors are deeply grooved on their anterior surface.
The upper parts of the medium-sized, long-tailed meadow jumping mouse are brownish-yellow mixed with black middorsally to form a dark stripe from the face to the base of the tail. The sides are dark yellowish-brown, and the underparts are white. The small, dark ears have a narrow, pale edge. The tail lacks the white tip of Napaeozapus.

Habitat:
As its name implies, this species is found in open, grassy areas such as wet meadows, abandoned grassy fields, and forest glades, oftentimes near streams.

Reproduction:
Breeding begins shortly after emerging from hibernation with most litters being produced during June and again in August. Litters may range from three to seven. Gestation ranges from 17 to 21 days. Newborn mice are pink in color, virtually hairless, and have their eyes and ears closed. The pinnae of the ears unfold during the first week. The incisors erupt during the second week, and the ears open during the third week. The hind feet, which are not disproportionately large at birth, grow rapidly, attaining their adult size by the fourth week. Young mice are weaned between four and five weeks.

Longevity:
Several individuals have lived at least two years in the wild (Quimby, 1951; Whitaker, 1963).

Terrestrial Ecology:
Meadow jumping mice are mainly nocturnal, and are active only during the warmer months. They hibernate during the colder winter months. Hibernation is usually in a lined burrow below the frost line. When hibernating, jumping mice normally curl into a ball with their nose and feet on their abdomen and their tail curled around their body. Several hibernating individuals were dug out of a loose clay bank along Noland Creek on November 7, 1935. Each was located in a separate compartment lined with dry leaves, approximately 1.5 feet below ground level. On February 7, 1941, near Deep Creek, a single hibernating mouse was found four to six inches below the surface of a clean road fill (Linzey and Linzey, 1968).

Feeding Habits:
Seeds are the primary food, but berries, nuts, fruits, and insects are also eaten.

Predators and Defense:
Major predators include snakes, owls, hawks, foxes, weasels, mink, and other carnivorous mammals.

Parasites:
None recorded from the park.

The meadow jumping mouse is found from Alaska across Canada, and south in the United States to northern Colorado, northeastern Oklahoma, eastern Alabama, and South Carolina. Within this range, these mice occur in localized populations and are seldom abundant.

Meadow jumping mice inhabit open grassy areas, and are one of the rarer species in the park. The first park record was in 1935 at Noland Creek (NC). The first Tennessee specimen was recorded near Cosby in August 1964, in an area of high weeds completely surrounded by deciduous woodland (Linzey and Linzey, 1966). A specimen was captured by Larry N. Brown in April 1968 in a grassy meadow along the Newfound Gap Road (Sevier Co., 3,800 feet) (Linzey, 1995b). In 1984, a Zapus was trapped near the Cosby entrance to the park [Ambrose, 1986 (1987)]. Twelve meadow jumping mice were taken along the Foothills Parkway at Cove Creek in 1991 (Harvey, 1991).

References:

Ambrose, J.P. 1986. Dynamics of Ecological Boundary Phenomena Along the Borders of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ph.D. Diss., University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. (Also National Park Service-Coop. Studies Unit Tech. Rep. 34. February, 1987)

Harvey, M.J. 1991. Survey for Threatened and Endangered Mammals on the Right-Of-Way of Proposed Segment 8D of the Foothills Parkway. Report to Environmental Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Linzey, D. W. 1968. An Ecological Study of the Golden Mouse, Ochrotomys nuttalli, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. American Midland Naturalist 79(2): 320-345.

Linzey, D. W. 1995a. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia.

Linzey, D. W. 1995b. Mammals of Great Smoky Mountains National Park-1995 Update. Journal of the

Quimby, D.C. 1951. The Life History and Ecology of the Jumping Mouse, Zapus hudsonius. Ecological Monographs 21: 61-95.

Whitaker, J.O., Jr. 1963. A Study of the Meadow Jumping Mouse, Zapus hudsonius (Zimmermann), in Central New York. Ecological Monographs 33(3): 215-254.

Whitaker, J.O., Jr. 1972. Zapus hudsonius. Mammalian Species No. 11: 1-7. American Society of Mammalogists.

Whitaker, J.O., Jr. 1999. Meadow Jumping Mouse. Pages 666-667. In: D.E. Wilson, and S. Ruff (eds.). The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.