Earth-colored mouse

{{Short description|Species of rodent}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Earth-colored mouse

| status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author1=Aplin, K. | title=Mus terricolor| volume= 2008| year = 2008 | page = e.T13987A4379161|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T13987A4379161.en}}

| genus = Mus

| species = terricolor

| authority = Blyth, 1851

| synonyms = Mus dunni

}}

The earth-colored mouse (Mus terricolor) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.

It is found in India, possibly Indonesia, Nepal, and Pakistan. The earth-colored mouse lives in cultivated fields in raised moist mounds of Earth, where they burrow and locate their nest about 20 cm or 8 inches deep. Singh, S., Cheong, N., Narayan, G., Sharma, T. Burrow characteristics of the co-existing sibling species Mus booduga and Mus terricolor and the genetic basis of adaptation to hypoxic/hypercapnic stress. BMC Ecology, (2009). Living in a raised mound of soil offers them more oxygen flow from air coming through the surrounding sides as well as from above. In contrast, their co-existing sibling species Mus booduga burrow in the flat parts of the field, which allows for niche differentiation.