The main predators of Cairo spiny mice are Blanford's foxes (Vulpes cana). In order to avoid this predator, Acomys cahirinus uses chemical signals to communicate with other mice in their group to warn them that danger is near. Though there are no published accounts of other predators, it is likely that the Egyptian spiny mouse are preyed on by a variety of species, such as nocturnal raptors and snakes.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
Cairo spiny mice are defined by gray-brown to sandy colored, spiny hairs that cover their backs. These hairs resemble the spines of hedgehogs. The underside of these mice is characteristically white while the upper body is brown, grey, or beige colored. These mice have a body length of 7 to 17 cm, weigh between 30 and 70 g. They are characterized by a scaly, hairless tail that varies in length from 5 to 12 cm.
Range mass: 30 to 70 g.
Range length: 7 to 17 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
In captivity, Cairo spiny mice live up to 4 years. No information is currently available for the lifespan of this species in the wild.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 4 (high) years.
Cairo spiny mice tend to live in arid, rocky habitats, such as rocky canyons, near cliffs, or near human habitation where they use crevices in buildings. They may also be found in gravelly washes, but are not generally found in sandy areas. They are found mostly on the ground and in burrows, but they occasionally climb. Generally, these spiny mice avoid altitudes above 1500 meters.
Range elevation: 1500 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; savanna or grassland
Cairo spiny mice are found throughout northern African, from the western Sahara in Mauritania and Morocco east to Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan.
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native ); ethiopian (Native )
Cairo spiny mice are omnivorous and opportunistic, eating seeds, fruits, dried plants, spiders, small insects, and even snails. This species has also been known to feed on dried Egyptian mummies. In populations that live in close contact with humans, they are known to feed on grains, stored food, and human crops.
Animal Foods: carrion ; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods; mollusks
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
Cairo spiny mice serve as a food source for Vulpes cana. They also are parasitized by ticks and fleas that are carriers for diseases such as typhus, Salmonella food poisoning and spotted fever.
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Cairo spiny mice have been widely used as laboratory animals for research in the areas of medicine and biology, including genetics, virology, pharmaceutical development, and cancer research.
Positive Impacts: research and education
Cairo spiny mice have been destroying crops near human habitation for thousands of years and they have been known to spread deadly diseases such as typhus, spotted fever, and Salmonella food poisoning
Negative Impacts: injures humans (carries human disease); crop pest
Cairo spiny mice are not currently considered threatened.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
Cairo spiny mice seem to use chemical signals in order to communicate with each other to warn others of dangerous predators; however, there is little information regarding specific chemicals produced by this species. This species most likely also perceives the environment through their other visual, tactile and acoustic senses.
Communication Channels: chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Cairo spiny mice were first discovered in Egypt.
There is little specific information on the mating system of Cairo spiny mice in the literature. However, social groups seem to be made up of a dominant male and a group of females, suggesting polgyny. Females have help from conspecifics in raising their young.
Mating System: polygynous ; cooperative breeder
The main breeding season of Cairo spiny mice is between September and January, while females are reproductively inactive from February through to August. However, other sources suggest that breeding may occur year-round. The main breeding season corresponds with the onset of the rainy season, which generally begins around September and ends in April. The increase in rain and food availability is perhaps the most important factor for reproduction in female Cairo spiny mice. This species reaches sexual maturity in about 2 months. Acomys cahirinus have a gestation period of 5 to 6 weeks, about 2 weeks longer than typical in similarly sized mice, which means that the young are extremely well developed at birth. Since they live in small groups (see Behavior below), during the birthing process, females tend to help each other by chewing through the umbilical cord and licking the placenta. The young are born with enough hair to thermoregulate independently without the help of a mother and also open their eyes at birth or within the first couple days. These mice tend to produce approximately 1 to 5 offspring in a litter and in just a few days after their birth, infant mice are treated as common children where they are nursed by every mother in the group and accepted everywhere. Incredibly enough, the new mother is fertile once again the evening of the same day she gives birth.
Breeding interval: Cairo spiny mice breed 3 to 4 times during their breeding season.
Breeding season: Acomys cahirinus breeds from September to January.
Range number of offspring: 1 to 5.
Range gestation period: 5 to 6 weeks.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 (low) months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 (low) months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous
Since Cairo spiny mice live in groups and care for young cooperatively, the mother is not solely responsible for parental care. Additionally, the advanced development of the young at birth and their early independence mean that the duration of parental investment is relatively short. By the third day after birth, young mice are already exploring and investigating their surroundings, and by the age of 2 months they are sexually mature.
Parental Investment: precocial ; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Female)
Nocturnal animal. Omnivorous, feeding on snails, insects, spiders, scorpions and sometimes on various plant parts. Lives in social groups. Cairo spiny mouse drinks large quantities of water because of high evaporation rate through skin and can survive without food or water for three to nine days, but cannot tolerate cold weather. The tail and large patches of dorsal skin come off easily when handled, an anti-predator device. Cairo spiny mouse breed throughout the year with peak in breeding activity from February to July. Female gives birth to litters of one to five young after a gestation period of around 42 days. The young are weaned after two weeks and reaches sexual maturity after two or three months. Cairo spiny mouse can live for three years.
Cairo spiny mouse vary in size from small to medium. Fur spiny extending from behind the shoulder onto rump but not present on the side. Body color varies from pale to dark brownish cinnamon on the upperparts. Head dark. Underparts and feet white. Suborbital region small and white. Snout pointed. Ears large, erect, pigmented, with white basal and posterior patches and covered with whitish hairs. Eyes prominent and bright. Tail as long as the head and body length, hairless and scaly. Tail color grayish on the dorsal side and buff on the ventral side.
Widespread (Nile Valley, Delta, Eastern Desert, oases, Gebel Uweinat).
Cairo spiny mouse inhabits in rocky arid regions, desert gardens, settlements, huts and houses.
Body length: 75–138 mm. Tail length: 85–138 mm. Weight: 21–64 gm.
Native, resident.
The Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), also known as the common spiny mouse, Egyptian spiny mouse, or Arabian spiny mouse, is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Africa north of the Sahara, where its natural habitats are rocky areas and hot deserts. It is omnivorous and feeds on seeds, desert plants, snails, and insects. It is a gregarious animal and lives in small family groups. It is the first and only known rodent species that exhibit spontaneous decidualization and menstruation.[3]
The Cairo spiny mouse grows to a head and body length of about 3.75 to 5 in (95 to 127 mm) with a tail of much the same length. Adults weigh between 1.5 and 3 oz (43 and 85 g). The colour of the Cairo spiny mouse is sandy-brown or greyish-brown above and whitish beneath. A line of spine-like bristles run along the ridge of the back. The snout is slender and pointed, the eyes are large, the ears are large and slightly pointed and the tail is devoid of hairs.[4]
The spiny mouse is known to have relatively weak skin,[5] compared to a Mus musculus, and tail autotomy.[6]
The Cairo spiny mouse is native to northern Africa with its range extending from Mauritania, Morocco, and Algeria in the west to Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Egypt in the east at altitudes up to about 1,500 m (4,900 ft). It lives in dry stony habitats with sparse vegetation and is often found near human dwellings. It is common around cliffs and canyons and in gravelly plains with shrubby vegetation. It is not usually found in sandy habitats, but may be present among date palms.[1][7]
Cairo spiny mice are social animals and live in a group with a dominant male. Breeding mostly takes place in the rainy season, between September and April, when availability of food is greater.[7] The gestation period is five to six weeks, which is long for a mouse, and the young are well-developed when they are born. At this time, they are already covered with short fur and their eyes are open, and they soon start exploring their surroundings. The adults in the group cooperate in caring for the young, with lactating females feeding any of the group offspring.[7] Females may become pregnant again immediately after giving birth, and have three or four litters of up to five young in a year. The juveniles mature at two to three months of age.[7][8]
Cairo spiny mice live in burrows or rock crevices and are mostly terrestrial, but they can also clamber about in low bushes. They are nocturnal and omnivorous, eating anything edible they can find. Their diet includes seeds, nuts, fruit, green leaves, insects, spiders, molluscs, and carrion. When they live in the vicinity of humans, they consume crops, grain, and stored food.[7] They sometimes enter houses, especially in winter, and dislike cold weather.[4]
The fruit of Ochradenus baccatus (= Reseda baccata) has pleasant tasting flesh, but distasteful seeds. The Cairo desert mouse consumes the fruits, but spits the seeds out intact and thus acts as an efficient seed dispersal agent for this plant.[9]
The Cairo spiny mouse is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Moniliformis acomysi.[10]
The Cairo spiny mouse has a wide distribution and occupies diverse habitats. It is common and the population size large, so the IUCN, in its Red List of Threatened Species, lists it as being of "Least Concern".[1]
The spiny mouse is used for research in diabetes, development, regeneration, and menstruation.[11]
The spiny mouse is also the first known rodent species to exhibit spontaneous decidualization and menstruation, potentially serving as a great candidate model to study menstrual related diseases. It exhibits a 9-day cycle, and is the first rodent found to have such a cycle.[12] Gene sequencing is currently underway[13] to investigate this, and other unique physiological traits displayed by this species.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) The Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), also known as the common spiny mouse, Egyptian spiny mouse, or Arabian spiny mouse, is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Africa north of the Sahara, where its natural habitats are rocky areas and hot deserts. It is omnivorous and feeds on seeds, desert plants, snails, and insects. It is a gregarious animal and lives in small family groups. It is the first and only known rodent species that exhibit spontaneous decidualization and menstruation.
