1806kayb.jpg

Muskrats are called "rats" in a general sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, so-called "true rats".

An adult muskrat is about 40 to 60 cm (16 to 24 inches) long, almost half of that tail, and weighs from 0.7 to 1.8 kg (1.5 to 4 lb).. Muskrats are much smaller than beavers with whom they often share their habitat.

Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which is medium to dark brown in color with the belly a bit lighter. 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 shape of their nostrils which allows muskrats to inhale remaining oxygen from recently exhaled breath. This allows for muskrats to swim under water for up to 15 minutes.

When they walk on land the tail drags on the ground, which makes their tracks easy to recognize.

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.

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

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

Muskrats have sometimes been a food resource for humans. Muskrat meat tastes like rabbit or duck.

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. The name musquash comes from the Cree language.

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

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

Muskrats have sometimes been a food resource for humans. Muskrat meat tastes like rabbit or duck.

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. The name musquash comes from the Cree language.