Ask most residents of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach on the Alabama Coast if they’ve seen the rare and endangered beach mouse and the answer is “no.” Despite most people having never seen a beach mouse, these small animals play a silent, yet significant role in the coastal dunes along the Gulf Coast shoreline. 

“The main reason that so many people have never seen a beach mouse is that the beach mouse is nocturnal. Not many folks are out on the beach from 2 to 4 a.m., when they are most active,” said Nicole Woerner, deputy director of Coastal Resources for the City of Orange Beach.

Woerner works with various agencies for environmental permitting and habitat assessments when it comes to beachfront development. Through her job, Woerner is trained to look for burrows and tracks, but she adds that the tiny size of the beach mouse contributes to the lack of sightings. 

The Alabama beach mouse and the Perdido Key beach mouse, the two subspecies in the area, only measure only about two inches long and weigh less than a half ounce with a tail that takes up more than half its body length.

A tiny Alabama beach mouse emerges from its burrow but camouflages easily into the dunes and scrub along Alabama’s Gulf Coast. (Photo: USFWs)

Sightings of the beach mouse are so rare that locals sometimes joke about it being an urban myth questioning if they really do exist because, so few people have seen them.

Indeed they do and fortunately, you don’t have to see the beach mouse to appreciate its extensive impact on the local environment and coastal health which is why this small mammal is getting a lot of local and national support to ensure its survival.

 

Nighttime surveys are regularly conducted to monitor the populations of the Alabama beach mouse. (Photo: Chandra Wright)

Unique Traits of the Alabama Beach Mouse

While few people have ever seen a beach mouse, even fewer know about its essential role in the protection of the coastal sand dunes that define the Gulf Shores in Alabama. 

The Alabama beach mouse is brown on top and white on bottom with a pink tail enabling it to easily disguise itself in the muted coastal dunes.

One of the most unique features of the nocturnal mammal is that it is monogamous. This is a rare trait that only three percent of mammals have so it makes for great study for wildlife biologists like Bill Lynn who has conducted research on the Alabama beach mouse since 1995.

“So why monogamy? We always think of the coast as a tropical paradise. However, it really is a hot, dry, arid, windy, environment. It is a tough place to make a living for wildlife. A monogamous mating system makes sense because having a life partner in such a tough environment helps in successful living and raising of young,” said Lynn who is the recovery and permitting lead for the Alabama beach mouse (ABM) for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Research teams from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have also discovered the unique dynamic of shared parenting among beach mouse pairs. When the female goes out to feed, the male returns to the burrow to care for the young then the duties alternate. 

Locating and learning the life cycle and behavior of the beach mouse is essential to understanding its role in the dunes system. The beach mouse lives in the sand dunes building complex burrows that can go as far down as three feet.

Currently in the Gulf Shores there are two populations of the Alabama beach mouse. One is an isolated population at Gulf State Park and the other is found along a stretch of dunes extending from the west side of Little Lagoon Pass to the tip of Fort Morgan. 

Lynn and his team continually monitor 13 locations along the Alabama coast, each time adding to the body of knowledge collected on these species.

The dune ecosystem along the Gulf Shores is delicate and relies on the beach mouse as a prevention from coastal erosion (Photo: Anietra Hamper)

Impact on Coastal Dunes

The Alabama beach mouse is the key stakeholder for the health of the dune ecosystem which is one of the main reasons that studying it to protect it from extinction is so essential.  

“I call them ‘The Architect of the Sand Dunes’,” said Lynn. “By building a burrow, they turn the soil. They collect seeds and take them back to the burrows. What they do not eat sprouts into new sand dune plants which traps sand and makes them grow. These plants also prevent coastal erosion.”

The beach mouse is also considered an indicator species, meaning it is usually the first in its ecosystem to be affected by environmental changes in climate, pollution, and development. It’s akin to the canary in the coal mine warning workers of potential danger, but in this case, the beach mouse is the early warning signal for the environment.

“If the Alabama beach mice are lost, we would not have a species out there pollinating plants, dispersing seed, being a food source for other animals and turning the soil. Its contribution to a healthy and stable ecosystem would be lost. Coastal erosion may increase,” said Lynn.

The negative chain reaction impact does not end there. Extinction reverberates through ecosystems affecting other species and ultimately trickling down to impact the well-being of people.

Efforts to track and study the Alabama beach mouse are ongoing along the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach coastline. (Photo: USFWS)

Delicate and Necessary Research 

Finding, tracking, and monitoring the scattered beach mouse populations in the dunes system is meticulous work when you’re dealing with one of nature’s tiniest nocturnal creatures.

Dedicated researchers have monitored beach mouse populations on public lands like Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Morgan State Historical Park and Gulf State Park since 1987.Every three months teams set out to collect population data through a detailed process. It begins with live catch and release trapping conducted by permitted trappers. The new moon phase is the best time to collect data over a five-night period as it provides the darkest conditions for searching for tracks and burrows and this time frame delivers the best monitoring results.

Small aluminum traps, called H.B. Sherman live traps are set out and baited with black oil sunflower seed. Traps are placed about 28 feet apart covering survey areas by either being placed in a single line across a property or by grid trapping that covers a specific section of land. 

The collected mice are weighed and given a numbered ear tag then the data is compiled in a computer program to estimate the population size and other health factors like weight. Normal weight in a beach mouse for example, gives researchers insight into whether adequate food resources exist for them. The numbered tags provide individual identification with more detailed data like sex and age class (adult, subadult, or juvenile) which is important for keeping track of reproduction.

This detailed research has led to the use of new technology over time enabling teams to continually improve the amount and types of data collected helping reveal new issues or threats to the beach mouse populations.

The use of track tubes and camera buckets are examples. These methods helped researchers identify that free-roaming domestic cats were becoming a major threat to beach mouse populations. They discovered that the cats decimated two populations in recent years. Their evidence was essential for implementing programs to address the issue.

“Free roaming cats are a major problem for an endangered species such as the beach mouse. Both populations have been reintroduced and are doing well after the cats were removed,” said Lynn.

A Perdido Key beach mouse emerges from a burrow along the coast. (Photo: Zach Butler FWC)

Threats to the Beach Mouse

Non-native predators like free-roaming cats are not the only threat to the beach mouse. There are also native predators like bobcats, coyotes, and foxes. These factors combined with other threats like hurricanes, coastal development, and disease places constant pressure on beach mouse populations.

Mother Nature’s threats to habitat are a little more difficult to manage. Any amount of loss or fragmentation of habitat places the beach mouse in a critical state.

Lynn estimates that it would only take one hurricane to dramatically impact the entire remaining range of the Alabama beach mouse with the potential to cause extinction. 

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed nearly 95 percent of the frontal dunes of Alabama, decimating the populations of the Alabama beach mouse at Gulf State Park and most of the population at Fort Morgan.

The beach mouse was reintroduced in Gulf State Park in 2011 to help prevent extinction and it is once again showing progress. These efforts also underscore the fragility of the species and its habitat when unpredictable threats like hurricanes exist.

A potential burrow marked to observe while monitoring populations of the Alabama beach mouse and the Perdido Key beach mouse. (Photo: Escambia County)

The Fight to Save the Beach Mouse

Despite all the efforts to research and reintroduce the beach mouse at times over the decades, both the range of the coastal dunes and the mouse populations are shrinking. This makes the efforts to protect the beach mouse and maintain a balance for the coastal dunes within a populous area an essential priority. 

Historically Alabama had approximately 8,000-9,000 acres of sand dunes. Today only approximately 2,400 acres of dunes will remain after all current proposed development is completed. That is less than 30 percent of what once existed.

While little can be done to mitigate the natural threats like hurricanes, much of the effort to protect the beach mouse currently comes down to managing things like local coastal development. 

“Whenever someone wants to build on the coast, we are working with the property owners and our partners, the Cities of Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and Baldwin County to ensure the plans will not negatively affect the Alabama beach mouse. We ask for features in the plans that will minimize impacts,” said Lynn.

Potential developers must submit a permit request if their plans potentially impact mouse habitat areas. Each request is evaluated against guidelines and conditions set forth by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“In order to develop in beach mouse habitat areas, certain conditions must be met: habitat-friendly lighting, reserved conservation areas with perpetual conservation easements, minimized footprint, mitigation and maintenance fees,” said Phillip West, director, Coastal Resources Department for the City of Orange Beach, Alabama.

To make sure development projects are mindful of any potential negative impact, cities are required to conduct surveys for review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before construction can begin. It’s a detailed but necessary process.

“It just means we try to reach a balance, where development and species protection can try and co-exist,” said West.

The efforts to protect the beach mouse and its dune habitats extend even further to include working with the public on sand dune restoration projects and beach renourishment that aid in the health of the coastal ecosystem.

An Alabama beach mouse spotted running in the dunes during overnight research. (Photo: Nicole Woerner)

The Future of the Beach Mouse

Protection for the Alabama beach mouse has come a long way since it was first placed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Threatened and Endangered Species list in 1985, but it still faces a fragile future. 

“We are well overdue for a major hurricane and sea level rise models do not paint a rosy picture for the Alabama beach mouse or coastal development,” said Lynn.

Despite the unknown natural factors that will always be a concerning moving target for conservationists, the outlook for the beach mouse survival is improving in other ways like involving property owners in the solution. 

Coastal property owners are encouraged to use native landscaping or leave much of the space in sand dunes. They are increasingly utilizing fully shielded lighting and heeding the programs that encourage keeping house cats indoors. 

The Alabama beach mouse carries so much environmental responsibility and while researchers might be the selected few who ever see them, the awareness of their significance is gaining momentum making more people care and take action to protect this delicate creature.

 

Anietra Hamper is an award-winning outdoor writer, author and lifelong angler who specializes in outdoor adventure and fishing for some of the largest species around the world. Having spent a career as a top-rated television news anchor and investigative reporter, Anietra brings credibility to the stories she covers with her "boots-on-the-ground" journalistic approach. Anietra is based in Gahanna, Ohio.