Ondatra zibethicus : It sound much more imposing and hefty than the name muskrat . get ’s start our profile of this unusual rodent with a look at that vulgar name — muskrat — and the truth behind it .
Musk ? Yes , but not as musky as a skunk . Muskrat is aptly named for the glands that secrete a musk the animal spread around during mating season . If you were interested in eating muskrat , you credibly require to ward off doing so during the mating time of year ( which can be a longsighted season , because muskrats do a flock of mating ) . Quite a lot of muskrat meals take situation , particularly on other continents where this North American gnawer is an alien , invasive species , and eating them is one agency to contain the population .
Rat ? Yes , the musquash is a rodent , but it does n’t deserve the coarse preconception against most rats and mice . Muskrats are clean and carry far fewer disease than the Norway blackleg , for exemplar . Like most rodent , musquash are fertile breeder , birthing as many as three litters a year , with as many as six young per litter . The kits can drown on their own at three weeks of age . In the natural strategy of wildlife environmental science , an abundance of offspring usually means that many die young . They cater an significant source of food for thought for predators , such as birds of prey , racoon , mink coat , fox , coyote and even large Pisces and snapping turtles .
Ondatra zibethica are often misguided for beaver fur , because they share aquatic habitats and sometimes even live in the same dens . But musquash are much smaller than beaver , weigh as much as 4 pounds while beavers grade from 25 to 90 pounds .
As with beaver , masses have loved muskrats for their wooden-headed , valuable winter pelts and their tender meat — or they have hated them for reroutingwaterways . Not quite the dam - builders , muskrats are blamed for tunneling channels that cause human - made earthen dams to leak out . Rarely have muskrats just been admired for the fantabulous architects that they are . They organize underwater dwellings while contain their breathing space for several minutes and chewing woody stems with shut mouth . That ’s quite a feat !
Muskrats slyly disguise entryways to their tunnel that arise from subaquatic tunnels into lovesome , dry , good havens within the pool or stream bank . If the bank building are n’t stable enough , they build standing club supported by a logarithm or stump base and plaster an arching cap above it with mud and grass . Muskrats also build up feeding platforms , so they can dine on a variety of aquatic plant life . cattail and bulrushes are favorites , along with sedge , Walter Reed cane , pickerelweed , waterlily and arrowhead . While they are mainly vegetarian , musquash will sometimes eat turtle , fish , clams and crayfish when plants are n’t as available .
Former runt farmer Susan Harkins in the television below describes what many Fannie Farmer face when they inadvertently make the ideal home ground for a unfounded animal such as a muskrat fur .
Muskrat life is intricately tied to water life . Their lifespan cycles depend on the ascending and evenfall of pond throughout all seasons , and they do not hole up . In the saltation , wax water horizontal surface destroy their dens . This happens around the same time that denning females are thrust young males out to find their own territory . Natural timing of the water fluctuations might help with the seasonal universe shift . musquash also postulate water for survival during wintertime calendar month . Iced - over ponds harbor them from winter predators , and they do n’t even ask to come on if they discover good melody pockets under the deoxyephedrine .
AKentucky Department of Forestry publicationemphasizes that muskrat fur are “ an built-in part of aquatic ecosystems ” and recommend trapping and removing muskrats as a last resort . take on for the recommendations on construct a dam that discourages muskrat fur from making it their home ground .
The good solvent for preventing muskrats from burrowing into dams is to right construct the dam . Good dam building should admit the following :
Earthen decametre can be protected by cut a narrow trench down the marrow of the dam and fill it with concrete . The oceanic abyss should extend three feet below the piddle and should be filled with concrete to one metrical unit above the normal eminent - water level . This barrier will prevent muskrats from burrowing completely through the dam and causing a leak .
