Cats, wild dogs, foxes, birds of prey, snakes and even certain kinds of arthropods have been known to prey heavily upon mice. Nevertheless, because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, the mouse is one of the most successful mammalian genera living on Earth today.
Primarily nocturnal animals, mice compensate for their poor eyesight with a keen sense of hearing, and rely especially on their sense of smell to locate food and avoid predators.
Fox is a common name for many species of carnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. They live in small family groups, and are opportunistic feeders that hunt live prey (especially rodents). Using a pouncing technique practised from an early age, they are usually able to kill their prey quickly.
The diet of foxes is largely made up of invertebrates. However, it also includes rodents, rabbits and other small mammals, reptiles, (such as snakes), amphibians, grasses, berries, fruit, fish, birds, eggs, dung beetles, insects and all other kinds of small animals. Most species of fox generally consume around 1 kg of food every day. Foxes cache excess food, burying it for later consumption, usually under leaves, snow, or soil.
This allows an Owl to hunt by stealth, taking their victims by surprise. It also allows the Owl to listen for prey movements while still flying.
This mouse diced with death when it tucked into the lunch of a hungry leopard. Seemingly unaware of the beast towering over it, the mischievous rodent grabbed at scraps of meat thrown into the African Leopard’s enclosure.
But instead of pouncing on the the tiny intruder the 12-year-old leopard, called Sheena, appeared to be afraid of the daring mouse and kept her distance. At one stage she tried to nudge the mouse away with her nose, but the determined little chap carried on chewing away until he was full.
Cats feed on small prey, primarily birds and rodents. Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured.
A prowling pussycat eyes a lone mouse stranded all alone in the snow. Then he swaggers over only to find the plucky rodent is prepared to put up a fight.
With the sneakiest of moves, a hungry lemur almost manages to get this unsuspecting mouse in his clutches. But a split second before it became lunch, the mouse felt something wasn’t quite right. Maybe it spotted the shadow of the looming paw. Or maybe it just heard a lemur tummy rumble. It managed to scarper, leaving the lemur licking his lips and cursing his luck.