North Dakota mammals

Hispid Pocket Mouse in North Dakota

Chaetodipus hispidus

Native to North Dakota S4 Apparently Secure in North Dakota

Not listed as nonindigenous in North Dakota by USGS NAS; native to its North Dakota range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Hispid pocket mouse standing on pale rocky ground at nightHispid pocket mouse crouched in dry grass and red soilHispid pocket mouse peering from grass at a burrow entrance
Photo: Juan Cruzado · CC-BY-SAHispid pocket mouse standing on pale rocky ground at nightPhoto: Sam Kieschnick · CC-BYHispid pocket mouse crouched in dry grass and red soilPhoto: Ben Machado · CC-BYHispid pocket mouse peering from grass at a burrow entrance

Hispid Pocket Mouse in North Dakota, by the numbers

Occasional in North Dakota 43rd most recorded of 92 mammals logged in North Dakota

33 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

33 total records count every North Dakota occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 32 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Hispid Pocket Mouse in North Dakota

Most sightings fall in July to August.

32 North Dakota occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly North Dakota records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February0
March0
April0
May0
June1
July11
August18
September2
October0
November0
December0

Monthly hispid pocket mouse occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in North Dakota, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in North Dakota, with recorded sightings peaking in July–August.

Occurrence map

Where Hispid Pocket Mouse has been recorded in North Dakota

33 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

33 North Dakota records mapped

Where it's recorded in North Dakota

CountyRecords
Morton County 31
Emmons County 2

The complete county distribution, spread across 2 North Dakota counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Hispid pocket mice are stockier than most of their pocket-mouse relatives, packing seeds into fur-lined cheek pouches and hauling them back to sealed burrows where they wait out the heat of the day. North Dakota’s 33 records for this species come entirely from GBIF, with no iNaturalist photos at all, which fits a burrowing nocturnal rodent that spends daylight hours underground and rarely crosses paths with a camera.

The refuges here, J. Clark Salyer, Chase Lake, and Des Lacs, offer the open grassland and sandy soil this species needs for digging. Records cluster tightly between June and August, likely reflecting when field surveys ran rather than a true absence the rest of the year. NatureServe ranks the species S4, apparently secure in North Dakota, so the thin record count looks more like an observation gap than a conservation concern.

Hispid pocket mouse standing on pale rocky ground at night
Full species profile Hispid Pocket Mouse Chaetodipus hispidus Size 17–23 cm6.7–9.1 in Weight 30–47 g1.1–1.7 oz Lifespan 2 yr View the full profile

More mammals in North Dakota in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries