Muskrat

Scientific name: Ondatra zibethicus

How weight is recorded: Whole weight

Field notes

Appearance

Muskrats are compact, robust rodents with dark brown fur, a naked scaly tail flattened vertically, and small rounded ears. Adults show little sexual dimorphism; fur darkens in winter and can appear nearly black.

Size and weight

Weight 0.7–1.8 kg (typically 1.0–1.3 kg); body length 20–25 cm; tail 20–28 cm. Males average slightly heavier than females.

Habitat

Muskrats inhabit freshwater marshes, swamps, lakes, and slow-moving rivers with emergent vegetation. They require shallow water (0.5–2 m deep) with cattails, bulrushes, sedges, or other aquatic plants for food and lodge construction.

Distribution

Muskrats are widespread across North America from northern Canada south to the Gulf Coast and Mexico, with introduced populations in Eurasia. They are absent only from deserts and high mountains.

Diet

Muskrats eat emergent and aquatic vegetation—cattails, bulrushes, arrowhead, and pondweeds comprise the bulk of their diet, supplemented seasonally with freshwater mussels and snails.

Behaviour

Muskrats are primarily crepuscular and nocturnal, most active at dawn, dusk, and night. They are solitary to semi-social and highly aquatic; they rarely venture far from water but maintain travel routes along shorelines and ditches.

Hunting tips

Look for fresh feeding signs (cut vegetation, muddy banks, grazing areas) and droppings near water margins; track mud slides and entry holes in lodge walls. Approach from downwind along shorelines early or late in day when animals forage in shallows. Move slowly and watch for ripples and wake patterns; use still-hunting near known feeding beds and lodge complexes.

Whole weight

This species is logged by whole weight — the animal weighed entire, as taken.

Where it is hunted

Listed as huntable in 13 countries in Huntify.

Names in other languages

These field notes are general species knowledge, not legal advice. Always check the current seasons, quotas and firearm rules where you hunt.