Abstract: The Hengduan Mountains, as a low-latitude, high-elevation composite environment, impose stressors such as wide diurnal temperature fluctuations, seasonal variability in food resources, and hypoxia, which have driven multi-level adaptations in resident species.Apodemus chevrieri, a representative species of the region, has evolved multi-tiered physiological, morphological, and molecular strategies to cope with cold, food scarcity, and pronounced diurnal thermal variation. This review systematically integrated advances in energy metabolism and thermoregulation; temperature- and photoperiod-mediated seasonal plasticity; food utilization and gastrointestinal adjustments; locomotor and starvation responses; reproductive strategies; cranial morphology; and population genetics. It identified gaps in current knowledge and proposed directions for future research to provide an integrative perspective on the adaptive evolution of small high-altitude mammals.

Key words: Apodemus chevrieri, high-altitude adaptation, thermogenesis, gastrointestinal plasticity, leptin, hypothalamic neuropeptides