California mammals

San Joaquin Pocket Mouse in California

Perognathus inornatus

Native to California S2 Imperiled in California

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

San Joaquin Pocket Mouse in California, by the numbers

Occasional in California 108th most recorded of 241 mammals logged in California

815 occurrence records
33 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

815 total records count every California occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 810 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the San Joaquin Pocket Mouse in California

Most sightings fall in April to May.

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

Monthly California records (table)
MonthRecords
January3
February1
March81
April208
May175
June79
July79
August43
September65
October46
November26
December4

Monthly san joaquin pocket mouse occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in California, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in California, with recorded sightings peaking in April–May.

Occurrence map

Where San Joaquin Pocket Mouse has been recorded in California

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 California records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
San Joaquin Experimental Area 109
Carrizo Plain National Monument 14
Canebrake Ecological Reserve 7
Domeland Wilderness Area 3
Kiavah Wilderness Area 1
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park 1
Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area 1
Allensworth Ecological Reserve 1

Protected places with the most san joaquin 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 California

CountyRecords
Kern County 351
Madera County 161
San Luis Obispo County 82
Fresno County 43
Monterey County 39
Los Angeles County 21
San Joaquin County 19
Tulare County 18
Merced County 18
Alameda County 14
Stanislaus County 10
Kings County 10
10 other counties 29

The complete county distribution, spread across 22 California counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

San Joaquin pocket mouse records belong chiefly to the dry grasslands and shrublands of interior California, especially loose soils around the San Joaquin Valley. The listed Mojave parks evoke similar arid ground, but they shouldn’t replace the Central Valley setting carried by the species’ name and records.

April is the busiest month, with March and May forming a strong spring cluster. January and February are nearly empty, and December has few reports. Warmer nights and seasonal small-mammal surveys both improve detection, so this curve shouldn’t be mistaken for a count of the population above ground.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in California 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"