[7][8] House mice thrive under a variety of conditions; they are found in and around homes and commercial structures, as well as in open fields and agricultural lands.

[citation needed] The tail, which is used for balance,[11][12][13] has only a thin covering of hair as it is the main peripheral organ of heat loss in thermoregulation[12] along with—to a lesser extent—the hairless parts of the paws and ears.

[5] The tail is also used for balance when the mouse is climbing or running, or as a base when the animal stands on its hind legs (a behaviour known as tripoding), and to convey information about the dominance status of an individual in encounters with other mice.

[16] Rodentia (rodents) Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, pikas) Scandentia (treeshrews) Dermoptera (flying lemurs) Primates (†Plesiadapiformes, Strepsirrhini, Haplorrhini) Mice are mammals of the Glires clade, which means they are amongst the closest relatives of humans other than lagomorphs, treeshrews, flying lemurs and other primates.

[23] House mice usually run, walk, or stand on all fours, but when eating, fighting, or orienting themselves, they rear up on their hind legs with additional support from the tail – a behavior known as "tripoding".

Mice are good jumpers, climbers, and swimmers, and are generally considered to be thigmotactic, i.e. usually attempt to maintain contact with vertical surfaces.

[citation needed] They live in a wide variety of hidden places near food sources, and construct nests from various soft materials.

[27] The social behavior of the house mouse is not rigidly fixed into species-specific patterns but is instead adaptable to the environmental conditions, such as the availability of food and space.

[28] Male-male aggression occurs in commensal populations, mainly to defend female mates and protect a small territory.

[29] Female-female aggression in the noncommensal house mouse populations is much higher, reaching a level generally attributed to free-ranging species.

[35][36][37] In 2007, mice genetically engineered to produce the third type of cone were shown to be able to distinguish a range of colors similar to that perceived by tetrachromats.

They generally show characteristics of mate-defense polygyny in that males are highly territorial and protective of their mates, while females are less agonistic.

[50] Inbreeding depression increases genetic incompatibilities, levels of homozygosity, and the chance of expression of deleterious recessive alleles.

In the house mouse, the major urinary protein (MUP) gene cluster provides a highly polymorphic scent signal of genetic identity that appears to underlie kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance.

[58] House mice usually live less than one year in the wild, due to a high level of predation and exposure to harsh environments.

[60][61] In several different mouse strains, a significant increase was observed with age in 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) levels in nuclear DNA from liver, heart, brain, kidney, skeletal muscle and spleen.

Dietary restriction was found to significantly reduce the age-related accumulation of 8-oxo-dG levels in nuclear DNA of all tissues studied in mice.

[62] In another study, two types of DNA damage (8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine and DNA-protein crosslinks) were found to increase with age in mouse brain and liver.

For example, one study suggests the possibility of a previously unsuspected early link between Northern Europe and Madeira on the basis of the origin of Madeiran mice.

[citation needed] The first written reference to mice kept as pets occurs in the Erya, the oldest extant Chinese dictionary, from a mention in an 1100 BC version.

[68] Human domestication led to numerous strains of "fancy" or hobby mice with a variety of colours and a docile temperament.

[69] Domestic varieties of the house mouse are bred as a food source for some carnivorous pet reptiles, birds, arthropods, and fish.

They commonly forage outdoors during the spring and summer, but retreat into buildings through the autumn and winter to seek warmth and food.

Their foraging risks the contamination and degradation of food supplies, and can also spread other pests such as fleas, ticks, lice and mites.

[citation needed] When infesting homes, house mice may pose a risk of damaging and compromising the structure of furniture and the building itself.

[83] In the grain belt of southeastern Australia, the introduced subspecies Mus musculus domesticus breed so successfully, every three years or so they reach plague proportions, achieving densities of 1000 per hectare and causing massive disruption to communities, and losses to agriculture of A$36 million annually.

Laboratory mice typically belong to standardized inbred strains selected for the stability or clarity of specific harmful mutations.

[86] Importance of mice as a house and agricultural pest resulted in a development of a variety of mouse-related rituals and stories in world's cultures.

In the eastern Balkans (most of Bulgaria, North Macedonia, the Torlak districts of Serbia), the "Mouse Day" (Bulgarian: Миши ден, Мишин ден) was celebrated on October 9 of the Julian calendar (corresponds to October 27 of the Gregorian calendar in the 20th and 21st centuries), the next day after the feast of Saint Demetrius.

In the western Balkans (Bosnia, Croatia), the Mouse Day would usually be celebrated in the spring, during the Maslenitsa week or early in the Lent.