Rock-loving mouse
Mus saxicola Elliot, 1839
The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola) is a species in the family Muridae, order Rodentia. Recorded adults weigh about 21.4 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the rock-loving mouse
- Weight
- 21.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the rock-loving mouse live?
Not recorded
What is the rock-loving mouse?
The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola), also known as the brown spiny mouse, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found in India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
The following description is by Sir Walter Elliot:
The brown spiny mouse lives entirely in the red gravelly soil in a burrow of moderate depth, generally on the side of a bank. When the animal is inside the entrance is closed with small pebbles, a quantity of which is collected outside, by which its retreat may always be known. The burrow leads to a chamber in which is collected a bed of small pebbles on which it sits, the thick close hair of the belly protecting it from the cold and asperity of such a seat. Its food appears to be vegetable. In its habits it is monogamous and nocturnal.
From the Wikipedia article “Rock-loving mouse” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rock-loving_mouse&oldid=1344758824), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the rock-loving mouse endangered?
The rock-loving mouse is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the rock-loving mouse classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyMuridae
- genusMus
- SpeciesMus saxicola Elliot, 1839
Synonyms Leggada cinderella, Leggada cindrella, Leggada platythrix sadhu, Leggadilla gurkha, Mus platythrix gurkha, Mus platythrix ramnadensis, Mus platythrix sadhu, Mus ramnadensis, Mus spinulosus, Pyromys priestlyi
Other names and names in other languages (9)
- Brown spiny mouseEnglish
- Brown spiny mouseEnglish
- Saxicolous mouseEnglish
- Saxicolous mouseEnglish
- FelsenstachelmausGerman
- kivikkohiiriFinnish
- イシハツカネズミJapanese
- mysz skalnaPolish
- Мадрасская мышьRussian
Relatives of the rock-loving mouse
Other species in the same genus Mus.
House mouse
Mus musculus
African pygmy mouse
Mus minutoides
Steppe mouse
Mus spicilegus
Little Indian field mouse
Mus booduga
Macedonian mouse
Mus macedonicus
Algerian mouse
Mus spretus
CompareRock-loving mouse vs House mouseRock-loving mouse vs African pygmy mouseRock-loving mouse vs Steppe mouseRock-loving mouse vs Little Indian field mouse
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the rock-loving mouse?
An adult rock-loving mouse weighs 21.4 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the rock-loving mouse endangered?
The rock-loving mouse is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the rock-loving mouse?
The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola) belongs to the family Muridae in the order Rodentia.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-loving-mouse
“Rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-loving-mouse.
@misc{rock_loving_mouse_2026,
title = {Rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rock-loving-mouse},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}