Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook Columbia Gazetteer American Heritage Coll. More closely related to the squirrel than the true mouse, the pocket mouse gets its name from the fur-lined cheek pouches in which it carries its food. It varies in length from 3 to 12 in. The rodent feeds on seeds and other vegetable matter. It can live for long periods without free water by utilizing the moisture available from food and its own digestive processes and by secreting concentrated urine.
Females give birth to several litters a year, each litter containing from one to eight young.
Gestation takes from 24 to 33 days. Pocket mice have many natural enemies but in captivity have lived as long as five years. They are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Rodentia, family Heteromyidae. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore .