Small Mammals
Cottontail Rabbit
Cottontail Rabbit
Habitat: Farmsteads, field edges, brushy areas
Feeding Habits: grasses, forbs, vegetable herbs,
berries during the summer, bark
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- February through September
2. 5-7 young are born, blind and naked
3. Gestation period is 28 days
4. Prolific rate is necessary due to predators
5. Live 3-5 years of age.
Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel
Habitat: Evergreen forests
Feeding Habits: nuts, mushrooms and pinecones
Life Cycle:
1. Single litter of young in April and May
2. Gestation period is 40 days
3. Born in hollow or abandoned woodpecker hole
4. 3 to 5 young are born blind and naked within 6
to 8 weeks are weaned
5. May live up to 10 years
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Habitat: Hardwood and evergreen forests
Feeding Habits: acorns, hickory, chestnuts, fruits,
birds
Life Cycle:
1. Several males usually attempt to breed each
receptive female
2. Gestation period of 40 days or so, two to four
blind and naked young
3. Net for 6 weeks, until they can eat solid foods
4. Can live to 15 years old
Eastern Fox Squirrel
Eastern Fox Squirrel
Habitat: Oaks Forests
Feeding Habits: nuts and seeds
Life Cycle:
1. Solitary except during breeding season, starts
during January
2. Gestation 45 days, 3 to 4 blind and naked
3. One litter a year
4. Young rely on their mother for up to 10 weeks
Red Fox
Red Fox
Habitat: woodlands, brushy areas, suburbs, treeless areas
Feeding Habits: anything they can catch and kill
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- February
2. Gestation 56 days, 6 to 8 pups
3. Male remains with the female and assists in raising the
pups
4. Normally born in old woodchuck burrow
5. Pups born fully furred, but eyes do not open until 9 to 10
days after birth
6. Grow and mature with parents
7. May live to be 15 years old
Gray Fox
Gray Fox
Habitat: Open woodlands, fields, streams and river
bottoms, and western plains
Feeding Habits: small birds, mice, snakes, rabbits, frogs,
most small mammals and insects
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- January
2. Gestation period is 2 months
3. Pups and born blind but fully furred at birth and are
weaned at about 60 days
4. Males leave the “family” in late summer
5. Females remain with pups until fall
Striped Skunk
Striped Skunk
Habitat: almost anywhere
Feeding Habits: insects, eggs and young of groundnesting birds, mice, rats, and domestic poultry
Life Cycle:
1. Late winter breeding season
2. Males mate with many females as possible
3. 3 to 8 young are born about 60 days later
4. Baby skunk eyes open at 3 weeks of age, at 5 weeks of
age they start following their mother
5. Captive skunks may live 10 to 12 years, in the wild
they do not live that long
Coyote
Coyote
Habitat: Anywhere there is food
Feeding Habits: rodents, rabbits, deer, birds, livestock,
fruits, berries
Life Cycle:
1. One litter a year of 6 to 10 pups
2. Breeding season occurs in January
3. Gestation period of 63 days
4. Pups born fully furred with closed eyes
5. Weaned at 6 weeks and begin to chase and kill
rodents
6. Learn to hunt from their parents
Badger
Badger
Habitat: Open plains and up into the mountains of the
west, open to semi-open areas
Feeding Habits: rodents, burrows, ground squirrels,
snakes, insects, eggs, birds
Life Cycle:
1. Delayed implantation
2. Mate in late summer or early fall
3. Gives birth to 2-4 young, usually three
4. Solitary animals
5. Weaned at 2 months of age
6. Can live up to 12 years in captivity
Porcupine
Porcupine
Habitat: Forested areas
Feeding Habits: leaves, bark, and twigs are entirely
vegetarian
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- November
2. One offspring born in March
3. Born with full set of soft quills, harden in 30
minutes after birth
4. Babies feed themselves at one week and can
climb by themselves after a few days
Opossum
Opossum
Habitat: Woodlands
Feeding Habits: Fruits, nuts, berries, insects, bird eggs
and any meat it can catch or scavenge
Life Cycle:
1. Give birth in April to September
2. Up to three litters of 8 to 18 young each.
3. Gestation is only 13 to 14 days
4. Incubate in pouch for about 6 weeks
5. Once out of the pouch, young often ride the mother’s
back
6. Fake death
Raccoon
Raccoon
Habitat: Very Adaptable
Feeding Habits: Omnivores; eating frogs, berries, fish,
small mammals, nuts, vegetables, shellfish, grain, birds,
and bird eggs
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- late January until March
2. Males mate with many females
3. Gestation period is 64 days
4. 2-6 young, born with fur and their eyes closed
5. Eyes begin to open at about 18 to 20 days of age
6. Leave den at 6 weeks of age
Muskrat
Muskrat
Habitat: Near water
Feeding Habits: aquatic plants, freshwater mussels, and
fish
Life Cycle:
1. Two to four litters a year
2. Four to eight young are born blind and almost hairless
3. Eyes open at about 2 weeks of age, they are eating
vegetation 3 weeks
4. Shortly after they begin to eat they leave to find their
own homes
Beaver
Beaver
Habitat: Rivers and Streams in areas with woodlands
Feeding Habits: aquatic plants, such as water lilies, as well as the inner
bark of willow, aspen, and birch
Life Cycle:
1. Mate for life
2. Give birth in April
3. Fully furred with open eyes and the ability to swim hours after
birth
4. Weaned after 1 month
5. House consists of parents, previous year’s offspring, and recent
offspring
6. After 2 years they leave home to find their own mate and build
their own home.
Mink
Mink
Habitat: woodlands with aquatic source
Feeding Habits: hunt around water, eating frogs, salamanders,
fish waterfowl, and their eggs, and snakes
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season in January-March
2. Male stays with one of the females he has bred and assists
in raising the young
3. Gestation 45 days
4. Five to eight young are born in a den in rocks, under the
roots of a tree, or in an old muskrat den
5. Born with their eyes closed and nursed until 5 weeks old,
when they begin to eat solid foods
Bobcat
Bobcat
Habitat: woodlands, marshes and swamps, deserts and
mountains
Feeding Habits: Rodents, small mammals, birds, fawns
Life Cycle:
1. Breeding season- February
2. Gestation is 50 days.
3. Two to seven young, usually four
4. Rocky ledges are often chosen for den sites
5. 9 to 10 days kittens’ eyes open and they begin to crawl
about
6. After weaning mother begins to bring pray back alive
7. In captivity live for up to 15 years, wild is shorter
Lynx
Lynx
Habitat: Northern woodlands and brushy areas
Feeding Habits: grouse, squirrels, rodents, small
mammals
Life Cycle:
1. Gestation is 60 days
2. Two to four young are commonly born in late
spring
3. Kittens are born fully furred and eyes closed
4. Kittens stay in den for three months
5. Practice hunting
Woodchuck
Woodchuck
Habitat: Open woodlands and field edges
Feeding Habits: grasses, clover, garden vegetables
Life Cycle:
1. Males breeding as many receptive females as possible
2. Gestation is 28 days
3. Typically 4 naked babies
4. Open eyes at 3 weeks of age
5. Stay with mom for a few months
6. Winter- put on multiple layers of fat, then hibernate
Sources
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
http://www3.ag.purdue.edu/entm/wildlifehotline/pages/rabbits.aspx
http://www.animalsoundsmp3.com/product.php?productid=1
http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/rodents-and-hares/tamiasciurus-hudsonicus
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtjkb/145659748/
http://www.redorbit.com/education/reference_library/science_1/mammalia/2579504/eastern_gray_squirrel/
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3721
http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_squirrel/
http://euclid.nmu.edu/~jophilli/eastern-fox-squirrel.html
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/speciesinfo_fox.htm
http://naturallycuriouswithmaryholland.wordpress.com/category/red-foxes/
http://www.redorbit.com/education/reference_library/science_1/mammalia/2578240/gray_fox/
http://www.jimburnsphotos.com/pages/grayfox.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Striped_Skunk.jpg
http://www.smedesphoto.com/skunk.htm
http://www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us/index.aspx?NID=491
http://www.arkive.org/coyote/canis-latrans/image-G61730.html
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/steinmey_isaa/
http://theshroom.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/advice-column-ask-a-honey-badger/
http://www.arkive.org/north-american-porcupine/erethizon-dorsatum/
http://www.arkive.org/north-american-porcupine/erethizon-dorsatum/
http://animal.discovery.com/guides/baby-animals/mammals/virginia_opossum.html
http://local.brookings.k12.sd.us/krscience/zoology/webpage%20projects/sp11webprojects/racoon/racoon.htm
http://a-z-animals.com/animals/raccoon/
http://pondblog.com/2011/06/08/pond-damage/44263790-qet6898muskrateatingcattails/
http://m.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=muskrat
http://www.co.laplata.co.us/node/1017
http://a-z-animals.com/animals/beaver/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mink_-_Lower_Saranac_Lake.jpg
http://www.hanoverconservancy.org/lands/mink-brook/animals-in-mink-brook/
http://www.wild-life-rehab.com/Education-Bobcat.htm
http://www.pbase.com/image/76638011
http://mitchellismoving.blogspot.com/2011/02/chucking-woodchucks-and-kosher-dills-in.html
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/woodchuck/interesting/