Mating Mice Make Millions More!
When many of us think about mice, we
don't usually think of just one mouse. Many picture
hundreds to thousands of mice scurrying around, so how does this
happen? What allows the house mouse to have such a high
reproductive potential?
For starters, female house mice go into heat every four to
six days throughout the year! Although they can reproduce
at anytime, wild mice tend to breed only from April to
September. The typical gestation period is nineteen to
twenty-one days, at which point a litter of about five to seven
is born furless, blind, and completely dependent on the mother.
The young feed at first solely on the mother's milk.
They develop fur after about ten days, and their eyes open after
fourteen days. They are weaned from the mother after
approximately three weeks.
Both male and female mice reach sexual maturity after only
six weeks at which point the whole process can start all over
again. How do mice attract a mate? A somewhat recent
study shows that males produce ultrasonic sounds when they come
into contact with female sex pheromones. It seems that
this may be involved in choosing a mate. (Holy and Guo,
2005).
Interactions With Other Organisms