Wyoming marks the northern fringe of the hispid pocket mouse’s range, and the state’s 30 records draw that edge with unusual clarity. Platte, Laramie, and Goshen counties, the three tucked into the state’s southeastern corner along the Nebraska line, hold 28 of the 30 reports. Single records from Albany and Crook counties are the only hints of the species anywhere else in the state.
That southeast corner is the right kind of country: dry, open grassland on sandy, easy-to-dig soil. But the concentration also mirrors where survey effort has focused, and with so few records overall, no corner of Wyoming can be called proven or empty with much confidence. NatureServe ranks the mouse imperiled in the state, which makes each confirmed report genuinely valuable.
Reports run from June through August almost exclusively, the months when the mice are most active above ground and when small-mammal crews are in the field. A winter record from Wyoming would be a surprise; a summer one from any county outside the southeast would be news.
Full species profile
