Muskrats
The lowly and much maligned Muskrat has moved into the Dufferin Marsh in great numbers and we are glad it did. A small group of us went out today to investigate the influx and recorded 16 lodges and 14 “push-ups”. That’s 16 little Muskrat families.
The Muskrat is a medium sized rodent, resembling a small beaver with a long thin tail. In fact the Muskrat shares some behaviours with the Beaver living an aquatic life, building a lodge and living largely on plant material. The favourite food of a Muskrat is Cattails. It also uses Cattails and mud to build its house or lodge. Most of the winter activity of a Muskrat is under water travelling between the lodge and the push-up, a mound where it stores food. Today however we noted several tracks, about Muskrat size, showing pathways between the lodges and the push ups. Maybe with the cold weather the water is not deep enough for travel.
The lowly and much maligned Muskrat has moved into the Dufferin Marsh in great numbers and we are glad it did. A small group of us went out today to investigate the influx and recorded 16 lodges and 14 “push-ups”. That’s 16 little Muskrat families.
The Muskrat is a medium sized rodent, resembling a small beaver with a long thin tail. In fact the Muskrat shares some behaviours with the Beaver living an aquatic life, building a lodge and living largely on plant material. The favourite food of a Muskrat is Cattails. It also uses Cattails and mud to build its house or lodge. Most of the winter activity of a Muskrat is under water travelling between the lodge and the push-up, a mound where it stores food. Today however we noted several tracks, about Muskrat size, showing pathways between the lodges and the push ups. Maybe with the cold weather the water is not deep enough for travel.
Muskrats mate and start a family in late winter. The mother can have up to 10 pups at a time and produce 4 or 5 broods. That’s a lot of Muskrats. Although Muskrats fall prey to many enemies such as mink, hawks and coyotes, they are fierce fighters and defend a territory.
Muskrats are welcome in the Dufferin Marsh because they are very effective at maintaining open water areas in the wetland and keeping the spread of Cattails under control. This allows for a more diverse plant and animal community which is a healthier wetland.
For more information on the Muskrat go to: www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/muskrat.html
Muscrat photo: By D. Gordon E. Robertson (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
Muskrats are welcome in the Dufferin Marsh because they are very effective at maintaining open water areas in the wetland and keeping the spread of Cattails under control. This allows for a more diverse plant and animal community which is a healthier wetland.
For more information on the Muskrat go to: www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/muskrat.html
Muscrat photo: By D. Gordon E. Robertson (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
