Where did mice originate from? - briefly
Mice, particularly the common house mouse (Mus musculus), originated in South‑Asian regions, especially the Indian subcontinent. From there they dispersed across Eurasia and later colonized most of the world through human activity.
Where did mice originate from? - in detail
Mice belong to the genus Mus, a group that emerged in the late Miocene epoch, approximately 10 million years ago. Fossil evidence places the earliest representatives in the Indian subcontinent and surrounding regions of South‑East Asia. Morphological analyses of Mus specimens from the Siwalik Hills and the Tibetan Plateau confirm a diversification center in this area, where climatic fluctuations promoted niche specialization.
Genetic studies reinforce the Asian origin hypothesis. Mitochondrial DNA and whole‑genome sequencing reveal a basal clade concentrated in the Indian subcontinent, from which derived lineages spread westward and eastward. The house mouse (Mus musculus) exhibits three major subspecies—M. m. domesticus, M. m. musculus, and M. m. castaneus—each tracing its ancestry to distinct geographic corridors:
- M. m. domesticus: expansion through the Near East into Europe, facilitated by early agricultural societies.
- M. m. musculus: migration northward into Eurasian temperate zones, associated with grain storage in Bronze Age settlements.
- M. m. castaneus: dispersal throughout South‑East Asia and Oceania, linked to maritime trade routes.
Archaeological contexts provide corroborating data. Remains of mouse bones appear in Neolithic sites of Jericho and Çatalhöyük, indicating commensal relationships with humans as early as 9 kyr BP. Subsequent Bronze Age and Iron Age layers show increased abundance, reflecting the species’ adaptation to human‑altered environments.
The global distribution of modern mice results from successive waves of human migration, trade, and urbanization. The species’ high reproductive rate, dietary flexibility, and capacity to exploit anthropogenic habitats enabled rapid colonization of new continents. Contemporary populations in the Americas, Africa, and Australia retain genetic signatures of their ancestral Asian lineages, confirming the original geographic source and the pathways of later dispersal.