Keystone species mussel population explodes uncontrollably, driving out most other species. These creatures need not be apex predators. Sea stars are prey for sharks, rays, and sea anemones. Sea otters are prey for orca. The jaguar, whose numbers in Central and South America have been classified as near threatened, acts as a keystone predator by its widely varied diet, helping to balance the mammalian jungle ecosystem with its consumption of 87 different species of prey. The lion is another keystone species. Keystone mutualists are organisms that participate in mutually beneficial interaction and the loss of which would have a profound impact upon
Barbary striped grass mouse pelage. Other "Lemniscomys" either have more spotty/interrupted stripes or only a single dark stripe along the back. Barbary striped grass mouse The Barbary striped grass mouse ("Lemniscomys barbarus") is a small rodent of the suborder Myomorpha. This monotypic species is native to coastal Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in northwest Africa. In the past it was believed to also occur throughout a large part of Sub-Saharan Africa, but these populations are now treated as a separate species, the Heuglin's striped grass mouse ("L. zebra"). These relatively small "Lemniscomys" are among the species most commonly kept in captivity. The Barbary, Heuglin's and