Lifespan: 3-4 years
Habitat: Primarily in marshes but can also lives in other types of wetlands such as swamps, ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.
Diet: Mainly vegetarian feeding on roots and rhizomes of marsh plants. However, they will also eat fish, frogs, insects, and shellfish.
Family Life: Muskrats breed throughout the year, having roughly 1 to 3 litters per year. Each litter produces on average 5-6 young. Muskrat young can swim withing 10 days from birth, and within 21 days they can eat plants. After one month, the independent young leave the lodge. Muskrats live in large family groups and only disperse when conditions become overcrowded.
Predators: minks, raccoons, otters, coyotes, owls, hawks, red foxes, and bald eagles.
Other significant threats: humans
Special considerations/Interesting facts: Communicate using smells from a musk gland, hence the name muskrat. Muskrats prefer shallow areas with 4 to 6 feet of water and similar to beavers they build and live in semi-aquatic lodges made of sticks, mud, and brush. Muskrats possess poor vision, hearing, and smell; however, they are excellent swimmer and use this to escape predators. Muskrats have been known to stay submerged for up to 17 minutes at a time. Many other animals including turtles, snakes, and Canadian Geese use the tops of their lodges as habitat or nesting sites.
