Study of climbing ability for two closely related mouse species

We tested the climbing ability of two native Hungarian rodent species under laboratory conditions. One mouse species is the mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus), which is associated with flat, arable environments; the other is the house mouse (Mus musculus), which occurs in many natural and artificial environments following human settlements. We sought answers to the following questions, whether each of these species can use the vertical dimension and whether there is a difference in climbing ability between individuals of different ages of the two species. From our results, we concluded that the climbing ability of mound-building mice is much lower than that of house mice, but young mound-building mice show a much greater inclination towards climbing than adult mound-building mice.