LONG-DISTANCE HOMING BY THE DEER MOUSE, PEROMYSCUS-MANICULATUS

We studied homing ability by displaced Deer Mice, Peromyscus maniculat us, in the Kananaskis Valley, Alberta, over three years. Fifty percent of adult Deer Mice returned home from straight line distances > 1500 m (range 650-1980 m). These distances are 9 to 26 times the home range diameter for Deer Mice in the area. Furthermore, homing mice crossed a natural obstacle (permanent river) and optimal habitat patches in or der to reach their home sites. As these mice were unlikely to be famil iar with habitats at these distances, our data appear to support the n avigational hypothesis, in which the mice follow a direct route home w ithout using habitat familiarity for orientation. Mice with previous h oming experience had a higher homing success rate (100%) than inexperi enced mice (60%). In addition, experienced mice returned home signific antly faster than inexperienced mice. The higher homing success and si gnificantly shorter return time of experienced mice may be due to incr eased familiarity with habitat or selection for better long distance t ravellers.