Beach mice are coast sand dune specialist that are subspecies of the Old field mouse that occurs inland. They eat various plant seeds and insects, and prefer sand-covered slopes with patches of sea oats, beach grass, and other grasses and herbs. They play an important ecological role by collecting and distributing seeds that grow into plants which help to stabilize dunes. Beach mice are heavily impacted by human intervention, and the fragmenting and removal of dunes in coastal environments have caused severe population declines in many subspecies. Outdoor domestic cats can threaten these small mouse populations. The pallid beach mouse went extinct in 1978, the Perdido key beach mouse is critically endangered, The Alabama, St. Andrew's, and Choctawhatchee beach mice are endangered. Santa Rosa Island beach mice are not imperiled. These mice are very shy and are not often seen by beach goers. They often forage at night on dune vegetation.