The Common Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are very busy these days, stocking up their winter lodges and grabbing a few last rays of sun. I came across these swimming back and forth at a slough on Sunday
According to the Kaufman Field Guide to Mammals of North America:
According to the Kaufman Field Guide to Mammals of North America:
Muskrats might seem like smaller cousins of the beaver, but they are actually classified in the same family as typical rats, mice, and lemmings, and they are thought to be closely related to the voles.
We get river animals (mostly beaver and weasels) coming near our yard from the Bow river, but I've never seen a muskrat here. One year we had an outbreak of voles in the lawn under the snow and a weasel setup a den between boulders in our retaining walls. The weasel had a hay-day as the snow melted and exposed the voles, then moved on for the summer.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting about the weasels and voles. There are (were?) many muskrats in the lagoons at Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.
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