Tiny California mouse wins Guinness award for longevity

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A tiny California mouse now has a big title after winning a Guinness World Records title for longevity. A Pacific pocket mouse named Pat — after “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart received the Guinness title on Wednesday for being the oldest living mouse in human care at the ripe age of 9 years and 209 days. The mouse was born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2013 under a conservation breeding program. The Pacific pocket mouse, which weighs as much as three pennies, is the smallest mouse species in North America. It once ranged widely from Los Angeles south but is now endangered and in fact was once thought extinct for two decades before small populations were rediscovered in 1994.