It's classified Endangered I believe - was nearly wiped out by hurricanes in the '90s. The zoo is part of a breeding initiative - more here (Palm Beach Zoo's website): perdido-key-beach-mice | Palm Beach Zoo
They're very attractive little rodents, and had helpfully just been woken up by a keeper working in the exhibit!
Thanks for this very intresting info Maguari ! Nice to see zoos put also time and money in small species which are ( IMO ) as important as the big ones !
VERY interesting species, I am burning with envy and hope to see a Perdido beach key mouse one day!
Thanks for sharing these photos with us!
I know that in the wild that Perdido beach key mice feed on dune plants most primarily the seeds of sea oats and bluestem, what do they feed them at Brevard Zoo and how is their husbandry similar to or different from that of more common mice eg. Domestic mice and Spiny mice ?
I'm so jealous of these photos! I waited 45 minutes in the freezing cold (like 45 degrees in Florida!) with no jacket (again it was Florida!) at the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo after a keeper had put some food in the enclosure. No mice came out of their borrow. Then I went behind the scenes and tried the same thing in 5 different tanks containing over 20 mice. At least now I was in heated room but there were still no mice to be seen above sand.
What time of day did you get these photos, did you have to set anything up with keepers?
I'm so jealous of these photos! I waited 45 minutes in the freezing cold (like 45 degrees in Florida!) with no jacket (again it was Florida!) at the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo after a keeper had put some food in the enclosure. No mice came out of their borrow. Then I went behind the scenes and tried the same thing in 5 different tanks containing over 20 mice. At least now I was in heated room but there were still no mice to be seen above sand.
What time of day did you get these photos, did you have to set anything up with keepers?
This would have been late morning/lunchtime - and indoors! And no set up, they just happened to be working on the mouse tanks when I got there - a very friendly keeper noticed me taking photos and she gently encouraged a couple back out for a second go!
