Mus musculus and Peromyscus maniculatus: homing ability in relation to habitat utilization

Abstract

House mice displaced from established home ranges in grassland on Great Gull Island, New York, exhibited homing behaviour. This behaviour was associated with large home range, wandering before home range establishment, and forays outside the range. When both house mice and deer mice inhabiting granaries in grassland in Alberta were displaced, homing behaviour was poorly expressed in house mice, but well developed in deer mice. The poorly developed homing tendency of Alberta house mice was associated with a pattern of habitat utilization that appeared to limit familiarity with areas outside the home range. While this result does not explicitly eliminate a role for a direction-finding ability in house mouse homing, it does emphasize the importance of familiarity with terrain external to the home range.