Rock-loving mouse

The rock-loving mouse (Mus saxicola), also known as the brown spiny mouse, is a rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in India, Nepal and Pakistan. A description quoted from Sir Walter Elliot says that it lives entirely in red gravelly soil, in a burrow of moderate depth that is usually dug in the side of a bank. When the animal is inside, it closes the entrance with small pebbles, and the heap of pebbles collected outside gives away the burrow. The burrow leads to a chamber lined with a bed of small pebbles, on which the mouse sits, protected from the cold and hardness of the seat by the thick close hair of its belly. Its food appears to be vegetable, and it is described as monogamous and nocturnal.