It’s Official: This Tiny Mouse Is Scarce

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WASHINGTON — Scientists reviewing contradictory evidence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have concluded the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse is a unique subspecies.

The study by the Portland, Ore.-based Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, might justify keeping the 3-inch mouse protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The mouse, which uses its 6-inch tail and strong hind legs to jump a foot and a half in the air, inhabits grasslands that include prime real estate along Colorado’s fast-growing Front Range.

Whether the mouse should stay on the endangered species list affects nearly 31,000 acres designated as critical habitat to help the mouse recover. Its population has dwindled to an average of 44 mice per mile of stream because of urban sprawl.

A fierce dispute arose earlier this year about whether the mouse is a distinct creature or the same as a more common species — and undeserving of protection.

Rob Roy Ramey, a contractor to the Interior Department, found the mouse was genetically identical to the more common Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse. His research was among reasons cited by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton in February 2005 when she proposed removing the mouse from the endangered species list.

But earlier this year, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, Tim King, said the mouse is distinct. The study by the institute, hired to mediate the issue, sided with Mr. King. It found Mr. Ramey had mixed up DNA samples from Preble’s and Bear Lodge mice.


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