On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science hosted a lecture on the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. The talk, part of the Voices in Science series, was presented by Jason Malaney, the curator of biosciences at the museum.
The New Mexico jumping mouse is a member of the Zapodidae family of rodents. Jumping mice have powerful back legs and long tails, allowing them to perform a huge saltatorial — or jumping — motion.
The jumping mouse can jump up to four meters laterally and two meters vertically, though its body is only centimeters large. As Malaney explained, that’s the equivalent of a human jumping over the museum.
The mice have the ability to run across water, hitting the water with such strength and speed that they are able to skip like stones across the surface, according to Malaney. They also hibernate for nine months out of the year.
New Mexico jumping mice are an endangered species. The biggest threat to jumping mice is habitat loss due to more and more wildland relegation to cattle grazing, Malaney explained. Other threats include off-road vehicles, loss of stream water and banks to irrigation, and climate change.
When discussing the issue of habitat loss in New Mexico, Malaney quoted Aldo Leopold’s writing on the ethics of converting wilderness — specifically the Gila National Forest — to grazing and other spaces.
“It has already gone far enough to raise the question of whether the policy of development … should continue to govern in absolutely every instance, or whether the principle of highest use does not itself demand that representative portions of some forests be preserved as wilderness. The entire area is grazed by cattle,” Malaney said.
The museum’s history is entwined with the history of the jumping mouse — bioscientists at the museum have been studying the mouse and its ecosystems for decades. The previous curator of biosciences at the NMMNHS also studied the range, preservation and taxonomy of the jumping mouse, according to Malaney.
“The real reason we (study jumping mice) is it takes us to wild places. And I’m really passionate about these wild places, because we can gain a lot of insight,” Malaney said.
Studying the jumping mouse allows bioscientists to learn about that species, but also the species that the mice exist alongside, such as fish, insects and beavers, Malaney said.
The NMMNHS bioscience team is currently working on legislation to protect the jumping mouse and its associated habitats, according to Malaney.
“It’s a lot of work. It’s great work and we’ll continue to do it,” Malaney said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Malaney said events like the Voices of Science talks are important for engaging the community in conservation.
“(These) get people excited and engaged being associated with these wild places and organisms,” Malaney said.
The NMMNHS will host another Voices of Science talk, “The Language of Bears,” via Zoom on Nov. 7.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
