Mice - The House Mouse

Sep 29, 2026

Mice live across diverse environments, from Arctic cold to desert heat, and can thrive wherever food and water are available. The text introduces the house mouse as a rodent, explains why rodents gnaw with continually growing front teeth, and describes the mouse’s size, strength, climbing, jumping, and swimming abilities. It also covers how mice survive using smell, hearing, whiskers, and how they nest, reproduce, and face predators.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The House Mouse

The Life of a Mouse

AIIAbout by Lisa C.Moran HOUGHTON MIFFLIN by Lisa C.Moran HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURTSchool Publishers PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS:Cover Carolyn A.McKeone /Photo Researchers,Inc.1 Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers,Inc.2 Alvin E.Staffan/Photo Researchers,Inc.3 Alvin E.Staffan/Photo Researchers,Inc.4◎JUERGEN&CHRISTINE SOHNS/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes.5 ◎JUERGEN&CHRISTINE SOHNS/Animals Animals-Earth Scenes.6 Tom McHugh/PhotoResearchers,Inc.7 Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers,Inc.8 STEPHEN DALTON/Minden Pictures.9 Carolyn A.McKeone/Photo Researchers,Inc.10 CGeorge Steinmetz/CORBIS. Copyright C by Houghton Miflin Harcourt Publishing Company All ights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic ormechanical,including photocopying or recording,or by any information storage and retrieval system,without the priorwritten permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law.Requestsfor permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Miflin Harcourt School Publishers,Attn:Permissions,6277 Sea Harbor Drive,Orlando,Florida 32887-6777. Printed in China ISBN-13:978-0-547-02159-1 ISBN-10:0-547-02159-3 456780940181716151413121110 | If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge,Houghton Miffin Harcourt School Publishers
retains title to the materials and they may not be resold.Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited. | | --- | | Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication,or any portion of it,into
electronic format. | | --- | # Introduction Mice live all over the world.Micecan live in the frozen cold of the Arctic.They can live in the fiery heat of thedesert.Mice are tiny,but they are alsoamazing.Let's meet some mice. Mice can live almost anywhere that has foodand water. # The House Mouse The house mouse is a rodent.Rodentis the scientific name for animals thatgnaw,or chew.Rodents gnaw with theirfront teeth.Their front teeth are alwaysgrowing so they gnaw to keep them fromgetting too big. Mice sometimes gnaw on things like leatherand wood. House mice are very small.They aresix to eight inches long from nose to tail.They are about one inch tall.A mouse'ssmall size helps it in an emergency.Amouse can hide in a very small place. Mice are very strong for their size.They can climb.They can jump.TheyCan even SWim. Mice use their paws to pick up food. House mice use their senses to live.Mice have very good senses of smell andhearing.Mice use their big noses andears to find their way around.They usetheir whiskers to feel.Whiskers tell amouse immediately if it can fit into ahole or not. 5 # The Life of a Mouse Some mice get food from people.House mice eat seeds and nuts.Theylike cereal and pasta.Mice love sweets. Mice live inside and outside.Theylive outside in warm weather.They move inside when it is cold.Mice like tolive within house walls and barns. Mice like to make their nests out of warm things,like grasses and paper. These pups will leave their mother afterfour weeks. A family of mice grows very quickly.A baby mouse is called a pup.A pair ofmice may have forty pups in one year. Mice live a short life.Wild mice livebetween one and two years.A mouse isan adult when it is only two months old.Mice like to live near people. 7 In ancient times,mice may have livedwith humans.These prehistoric micelived in caves,too.People got rid ofmice then,too. Mice face many dangers in the wild.Many animals hunt mice for food.Owlsand snakes eat mice.Foxes and coyotesalso eat mice. You can see a mouse panicking when itsees a cat.

FAQs

Where do mice live and what do they need to survive?

Mice live all over the world and can live almost anywhere that has food and water. They can survive in very cold places like the Arctic and in hot desert climates.

Why do house mice gnaw on objects?

House mice gnaw because rodents’ front teeth keep growing. Gnawing helps them keep the teeth from getting too big, and they may gnaw on items like leather and wood.

How do mice use their senses to live?

Mice rely on strong senses of smell and hearing. They use big noses and ears to find their way, and whiskers to feel whether they can fit into a hole.

Sep 29, 2026

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