It's like Tom and Jerry but in real life! Photographer Malcolm Case-Green snapped this photo of a tiny mouse that doesn't take kindly to being bullied:
Looking like a scene from a Tom and Jerry cartoon, the fight saw 'Jerry' escaping under the fence and back into the woods where 'Tom' had earlier caught him.
The cat had brought the mouse into a garden in Reigate, Surrey, hoping to spend the afternoon chasing him before snacking on the little critter. But he bit off more than he could chew when the mouse turned on him in a battle to survive.
Stephanie Evans said she came outside and saw the mouse in the cat's mouth. He put the mouse down and instead of running away the mouse just fronted him. The cat was so shocked he just stood there. She says she thinks they must have tussled for about 10 minutes, before the little mouse disappeared under the fence.
A neighbour later found the mouse in his greenhouse. He said "he refused to run off. He was probably waiting patiently to smash a flower-pot over the cat's head!"
It is a neurological condition caused by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. It can survive in most mammals but it's primary host is the feline (cat).
One of the interesting things about it is that when it infects mice it causes behavioral changes that make the mice seek out cats.
But until recently I had a house full of the little buggers, and came to respect them (apart from the shitting everywhere and literally eating my house, that is).
Having caught and observed about two dozen of the dears over a period of a few years, I can honestly say that the variance in personality is amazing. I've seen timid, frightened mice, of course; but also unfased and probably unfasable mice; studious, curious mice; old, experienced, sneaky survivor mice; stupid, reckless mice; mice that performed incredible feats of courage and agility; and, yes, aggressive, fearless mice.
I almost miss them -- until I remember how much the curtains cost.