House mice are an Old World species, native to Europe and Asia, that arrived in North America as an unintentional passenger on ships and grain shipments centuries ago. NatureServe classifies the species as exotic in North Dakota, and its SNA rank simply reflects that a state conservation status doesn’t apply to an introduced commensal that lives almost entirely alongside people.
The 53 records logged here come mostly from GBIF, 52 of 53, the kind of pest-monitoring and trapping data that tracks a species most naturalists don’t bother photographing for iNaturalist. Records show a sharp spike in June, likely a single trapping study rather than a true seasonal surge, since house mice breed and stay active year-round wherever there’s shelter and food. J. Clark Salyer, Long Lake, and Chase Lake national wildlife refuges show up here mainly because refuge buildings, granaries, and equipment sheds give this species the same warm, food-rich structures it exploits everywhere else.
Full species profile
