What type of animal is the cartoon character Speedy Gonzales?

Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers 'Looney Tunes' and 'Merrie Melodies' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast, speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent and also speaking Spanish. He usually wears a yellow sombrero, white shirt and trousers, and a red kerchief.

Speedy's first appearance was in 1953's 'Cat-Tails for Two' though he appeared largely in name (and super speed) only. It would be two years before Friz Freleng and layout artist Hawley Pratt redesigned the character into his modern incarnation for the 1955 Freleng short 'Speedy Gonzales'. The cartoon features Sylvester the Cat guarding a cheese factory at the international border between United States and Mexico from starving Mexican mice. The mice call in the plucky, excessively energetic Speedy (voiced by Mel Blanc) to save them. The cartoon won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).

Sylvester (often called "El Gringo Pussygato" by Speedy) is constantly outsmarted and outrun by the Mouse, causing the cat to suffer all manner of pain and humiliation from mousetraps to accidentally consuming large amounts of Tabasco hot sauce. Speedy's main rival and second nemesis became Daffy Duck, whom Speedy usually referred to as "the loco duck."