Saturday 22 July 2017

SATURDAY CRITTERS - Amsterdam Zoo

The Muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as "rats" in a general sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, members of the genus Rattus.I am linking to Saturday Critters.


An adult Muskrat is about 40–70 cm (16–28 in) long, half of that is the tail, and weighs from 0.6–2 kg (1.3–4.4 lb).[12] That is about four times the weight of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), though an adult Muskrat is only slightly longer, and are almost certainly the largest and heaviest members of the diverse family Cricetidae, which includes all voles, lemmings, and most mice native to the Americas. Muskrats are much smaller than beavers (Castor canadensis), with which they often share their habitat.


Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which is medium to dark brown or black in colour, with the belly a bit lighter; as the age increases, it turns a partly grey in colour. The fur has two layers, which helps protect them from the cold water. They have long tails covered with scales rather than hair, and to aid them in swimming, are slightly flattened vertically, which is a shape that is unique to them. When they walk on land, their tails drag on the ground, which makes their tracks easy to recognize.




Muskrats spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semiaquatic life. They can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes. Their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the build up of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out. Their hind feet are semiwebbed, although in swimming, their tails are their main means of propulsion. 



All these images were photographed at the Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam.

Many thanks for visting and also thanks for all your comments.

17 comments:

  1. Wait, why do these two look so different? How great it would be if we could close our ears up!! I think they are cute little guys...they do look a bit nearsighted.

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  2. So cute animal! Especially those one who sleeps))

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  3. They are so cute critters !

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  4. They are such a cute animal. We see these around here occasionally. In fact I saw one swimming at one of the places we like to go to a couple of weeks ago. Wishing you a great weekend Margaret :)

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  5. Thank you, Margaret. I enjoyed reading this. These are cute little guys. We had them in Nebraska do by our creek. I didn't see them often but I felt there were quite a few. I did not know that they were rodents. We didn't think of the as being bad as we knew rats were.
    ..

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  6. Hello, the muskrat is a cute critters. Love the closeups, great photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend.

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  7. So cute!
    Have a wonderful week-end!

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  8. Not sure I've seen a muskrat in a zoo, or maybe I did not recognise it. Looks a bit sorry for itself sat in the water

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  9. Really love your muskrat photos! Wonderful info too!

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  10. Great pictures of the muskrats! They live wild in the waterfowl park near me and I often see them in the summer. The ones we have here are probably the same species although I have never seen one with that lighter coloured fur - they all look like the first one. I love to watch them - they are so cute!

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  11. We see beavers and otters, but I've never seen a muskrat. Excellent pictures, Margaret, really!

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  12. After reading this post I had to go find Muskrat Love by Captain and Tennille.

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  13. Muskrats can do so much damage to dams. We used to have them on the farm, when I was growing up and they would tunnel into the dam holding the water for the cattle to drink. They look quite interesting though.

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  14. Very interesting and informative narrative, and the photos are excellent. A few weeks ago a muskrat swam right towards me as I walked along a boardwalk in a pond and I anticipated a great photo, but it ducked under the water as soon as I reached for my camera!

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