Rural Perspectives
Muskrats are active at night, eat aquatic plants
by Diane Constable
Muskrats can be found in our marshes and waterways.
Photo credit Diane Constable
We can find muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) throughout our area living in our marshes and waterways. The common name came from the Algonquian word muscascus, meaning “it is red,” due to the color of the muskrat fur. The scientific genus name “Ondatra” is the Wyandot Indian name for it, and the species name “zibethicus” comes from the Huron Tribes and means “musky.”
Muskrats are found throughout the USA and Canada. They are large rodents weighing up to 4 pounds, and they are about 25 inches long—including their 10-inch tails. Muskrats are about 10 inches tall and live about 3 years. They mate in midwinter, and 29 days later, the litter of about seven kits is born in the den made by the parents. The kits are ready to leave the den at 6 weeks, and they can have three litters per year.
The den is constructed either by digging along the banks of a marsh or on a rise in the marsh that is built up with plants and grasses and is called a pushup. Both models have several rooms and escape routes as well as a floating feeding platform.
Although muskrats can be observed during the day, they are more active at night. They eat aquatic plants such as cattail, arrowheads, sedges and duckweed. Occasionally, they will eat frogs, snails, crayfish and other small aquatic life. They are ardent eaters and are key to creating open water areas in the marsh that benefit waterfowl. Birds also will repurpose the dens by building nests on top of them.
Muskrats generally stay within 200 yards of their den and can stay underwater for 20 minutes. They do not hibernate, and they make trails through the underwater growth to access food, even when the water above is frozen. Their webbed feet and hairless, rudder-like tail can propel them up to 3 mph through water. Muskrats can also swim backwards. Their land-walking skills make them much slower and less agile on land.
Muskrats were very important to Native Americans for fur and food. A popular creation myth is that muskrats were assigned the task of diving to the bottom of the primordial seas to bring up the mud, which created the earth, a task the other animals could not perform. They also became very important in the worldwide fur trade, often under the name of “Hudson fur.”
Fun Fact: The Catholic Church has long allowed muskrats to be consumed during Lent. The reasoning: Muskrats are water animals, and early settlers had little else to eat in late winter, especially in Michigan. As for its taste, one bishop has been quoted as stating that “Anybody that eats muskrat is doing an act of penance worthy of the greatest of saints.”
As an avid photographer, Diane Constable regularly puts her formal education in both nature and photography to good use. Diane also enjoys gardening and her dogs. She serves on the board of the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club and is editor of the club’s newsletter.
