Muskrat
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| Ondatra zibethicus (Linnaeus, 1766) | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Muskrat range (native range in red, introduced range in green)
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The Muskrat or Musquash (Ondatra zibethicus), the only species in genus Ondatra, is a large aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe. It is nicknamed Swamp Bunny in the Mid-Atlantic States, especially in the marsh-lands and rivers surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. Adult body length is usually between 25-40 cm long, with a strong, laterally compressed tail 20-25 cm long. The body is covered in thick, brown waterproof fur; the underparts are paler. They have partially webbed hind feet and small able hand-like front feet. The weight is up to 1700 g, about four times the weight of a brown rat.
General introduction to muskrats
Muskrats are considered rats in the general sense, in that they are medium sized rodents with a generalist lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, members of the genus Rattus, which includes the most well-known rats: The black rat (Rattus rattus) and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). Muskrats are members of the Muroidea superfamily, along with many other rodents including most mice and rats, and the Cricetidae family which includes hamsters, lemmings, pack rats, and many others.
The muskrat is one of the world's largest rats. It weighs from 700 to 1800 grams (1.5 to 4 lbs), about four times the size of the most well-known rat: The brown rat, which are found in large numbers as pests in North America and Europe and are also common as pets and laboratory animals. Muskrats are much smaller than beavers (Castor canadensis), with whom they often share their habitat. Adult beavers weigh from 14,000 to 40,000 grams (30 to 88 lbs) (Nowak 1983).
Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which medium to dark brown with the belly a bit lighter in color. The fur has two layers which helps protect them from the cold water. They have long tails which are covered with scales rather than hair and are flattened vertically to aid them in swimming. The muskrat's name comes from the two scent glands which are found near its tail. They give off a strong "musky" odor which the muskrat uses to mark its territory (Caras 1967, Nowak 1983).
Muskrats, like most rodents, are prolific breeders. Females can have 2 to 3 litters a year of 6 to 8 young each. The babies are born small and hairless and weigh only about 22 grams. In southern environments young muskrats mature in 6 months, while in colder northern environments it takes about a year. Muskrat populations, like those of some other rodents, appear to go through a regular pattern of rise and dramatic decline spread over a 6 to 10 year period (MU 2007).
The muskrats' semi-aqautic life
Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and always inhabit wetlands, areas in or near salt and fresh-water marshlands, rivers, lakes, or ponds. They spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semi-aquatic life, both in and out of water. Muskrats can swim under water for up to 15 minutes. Their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the build up of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can also close off their ears to keep the water out. Their feet are semi-webbed to help in swimming, although the tail is their main organ of propulsion (Voelker 1986).
Muskrats normally live in family groups consisting of a male and female pair and their young. They build nests to protect themselves and the young from cold and predators. Extensive burrow systems are dug in the ground adjacent to the water with an underwater entrance. In marshes, lodges are constructed from vegetation and mud. In snowy areas they keep the openings to their lodges open by plugging them with vegetation which they replace every day. Most muskrat lodges are swept away in spring floods are have to be replaced each year. They also build feeding platforms in wetlands. It is common to find muskrats living in beaver lodges, too. Muskrats help maintain open areas in marshes, which helps to provide habitat for aquatic birds (Nowak 1983, Attenborourgh 2002, MU 2007).
Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattails and other aquatic vegetation. Plant materials make up about 95 percent of their diets, but they also eat small animals such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles (Caras 1967, Nowak 1983).
Muskrats provide an important food resource for many other animals including mink, foxes, coyotes, wolves, lynx, bears, eagles, snakes, alligators, and large owls and hawks. Otters, snapping turtles, and large fish such as pike prey on baby muskrats. Caribou and elk sometimes feed on the vegetation which makes up muskrat lodges during the winter when other food is scarce for them (MU 2007).
Muskrats and humans
Muskrats have long been an important food resource for humans. Muskrat meat is said to taste like rabbit or duck. In the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, there is a longstanding dispensation allowing Catholics to consume muskrat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent when the eating of meat, except for fish, is prohibited. Because the muskrat lives in water it is considered a fish in this case (Lukowski 2007).
Native American Indians have long considered the muskrat to be a very important animal. In several Native American creation myths it is the muskrat who dives to the bottom of the primordial sea to bring up the mud from which the earth is created, after other animals had failed in the task (Musgrave 2007).
Muskrat fur is very warm and of good quality, and the trapping of muskrats for their fur was an important industry in the past.
While much wetland habitat has been eliminated due to human activity, new muskrat habitat has been created by the construction of canals or irrigation channels and the muskrat remains common and wide-spread.
They are able to live alongside streams which contain the sulphurous water that drains away from coal mines. Fish and frogs perish in such streams, yet muskrats may thrive and occupy the wetlands.
European countries such as Belgium and The Netherlands consider the muskrat to be a pest that must be exterminated. Therefore the animal is hunted to keep the population down. The muskrat is considered a pest because its burrowing causes damage to dykes and levees.
In Belgium and The Netherlands, killed animals are sometimes sold to restaurants and served as waterkonijn (water rabbit).
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Attenborough, D. 2002. The Life of Mammals. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691113246
- Caras, R. 1967. North American Mammals. New York: Galahad Books. ISBN 088365072X
- Lukowski, K. 2007. "Muskrat love? It's a Lent thing for downriver area" The Official Web Site for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Accessed November 11, 2007.
- McMaster University (MU). 2007 The Muskrat Accessed November 11, 2007.
- Musgrave, P. 2007. "How the Muskrat Created the World" Muskrat.com Accessed November 11, 2007.
- Nowak, R. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801825253
- Voelker, W. 1986. The Natural History of Living Mammals. Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0937548081
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