Traits: Small mammal with long front teeth for gnawing, a long tail that is brown on top and white underneath, large eyes; this food-storing mammal is primarily nocturnal.

Habitat: Dry forest, tundra, grasslands

Foods: Seeds, nuts, insects, berries, mushrooms, fresh green vegetation

Eaten by: Foxes, weasels, marten, owls and other birds of prey

Do You Know? While eating and caching their foods, deer mice scatter the seeds of some plants and the spores of mycorrhizal fungi.