Sigmodon hirsutus - the one that escaped

The southern cotton rat is a rodent species in the family Cricetidae. It is found in southern Chiapas in Mexico through Central America, except for Belize, and as far east as northern Colombia and Venezuela. It lives in tropical rainforest, dry forest and savanna, as well as in cultivated areas. The species is terrestrial and primarily diurnal. It was long thought to be a subspecies of ''S. hispidus''. However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split the.. more