Vital parts of an ecosystem come in all shapes and sizes, and one of the key species in the Southern California chaparral habitat is one that most people would never see: the Pacific pocket mouse. Shy, tiny, and nocturnal, this diminutive rodent wouldn’t seem like a big deal, until you find out how important it is as a seed disperser. In 2013, researchers from the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research took on the no-small-task of studying and tracking this endangered mouse