Answers to Go with Susan Smith

Q. We were traveling through New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert when we stopped at White Sands. One of the trails includes signs about the mostly nocturnal animals found there. The "howling" grasshopper mouse was especially memorable. Are they found in Texas?

A. According to “The Mammals of Texas” by William B. Davis and David J. Schmidly, these tiny carnivores are found in the Lone Star state. The map in this book shows that the northern grasshopper mouse is found in both western and southern Texas. However, their range does not seem to include Hays County.

The following information on these mice comes from an online New Mexico Game and Fish publication, “Wildlife Notes.”