wood mouse

Somewhere in the mountains of southeastern Spain, a tiny wood mouse sniffs the nutty, alluring aroma of acorns.

This was seen in animals ranging from the great roundleaf bat, which saw an increase in the size of its wings, to wood mice, whose ears increased in length.

But these were not field mice or house mice or wood mice or harvest mice.

One victim was a wood mouse, and the other was a vole.

Close relatives of the species alive today, such as the European wood mouse, have reddish fur, so the researchers thought the fossil mouse might have had similar coloring.