Utah’s silky pocket mouse records all come from San Juan County in the southeastern corner, a few of them around Hovenweep and Bears Ears national monuments, canyon and high-desert country with the sandy, loose soil this tiny rodent needs to dig and forage. Its cheek pouches let it carry seeds back to a burrow without ever getting them wet, useful in country this dry.
Those 10 records all come from GBIF and fall between May and September, too few to show a seasonal pattern for a mouse that’s active at night and hard to spot.
NatureServe ranks the silky pocket mouse S3, Vulnerable, in Utah, a reminder that even a widespread species can hold thin ground in any one state.
Full species profile
