Utah mammals

Little pocket mouse in Utah

Perognathus longimembris

Native to Utah S3 Vulnerable in Utah

Not listed as nonindigenous in Utah by USGS NAS; native to its Utah 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.

Little pocket mouse moving over pale sandy soil at nightLittle pocket mouse on pale sand and gravelPacific pocket mouse, a coastal subspecies of little pocket mouse, in sandy vegetation
Photo: Rachel Allingham · CC BY 4.0Little pocket mouse moving over pale sandy soil at nightPhoto: Danny Mccamish · CC BY 4.0Little pocket mouse on pale sand and gravelPhoto: Cheryl S. Brehme, USGS · Public domainPacific pocket mouse, a coastal subspecies of little pocket mouse, in sandy vegetation

Little pocket mouse in Utah, by the numbers

Common in Utah 25th most recorded of 141 mammals logged in Utah

916 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

916 total records count every Utah occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 896 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Little pocket mouse in Utah

Most sightings fall in August.

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

Monthly Utah records (table)
MonthRecords
January7
February4
March22
April102
May141
June139
July135
August244
September69
October29
November4
December0

Monthly little pocket mouse occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Utah, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Utah, with recorded sightings peaking in August.

Occurrence map

Where Little pocket mouse has been recorded in Utah

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Utah records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument 76
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 37
Bears Ears National Monument 31
Rainbow Bridge National Monument 2
Beaver Dam (North) Wilderness Area 1
Red Cliffs National Monument 1

Protected places with the most little pocket mouse sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Utah

CountyRecords
Millard County 408
Kane County 121
Washington County 103
Grand County 66
Tooele County 55
San Juan County 51
Juab County 39
Garfield County 20
Box Elder County 12
Sevier County 8
Beaver County 7
Davis County 3
3 other counties 23

The complete county distribution, spread across 15 Utah counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Little pocket mouse reports point toward Utah’s sandy plateau country around Bears Ears, the Book Cliffs, and Capitol Reef. Loose soils and shrub cover give this burrower places to dig and store seeds, while broad slickrock and dense forest don’t offer the same ground.

Records rise from May through July and show another lift in September. August is also prominent, so the warmer months form the clearest reporting window. Those reports reflect both mouse activity and when people sampled these remote landscapes, not how many mice live there.

Occurrence data from GBIF.

Little pocket mouse moving over pale sandy soil at night
Full species profile Little pocket mouse Perognathus longimembris Size 10.8–13.2 cm4.3–5.2 in Weight 8 g0.3 oz Lifespan Up to 8.3 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Utah 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
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"