BBW: that's precisely the only restriction to when a mouse can kill: it can't kill an elephant when going out of the water, only a mouse... but it says nothing about the other possibilities so it can kill at any other occasion.

not with that picture :-)

I think that depends on what animal you relly more on.
I think the lion is the best piece in the whole board. At least it's been the most usefull in my games so far.