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COMMON Muskrat includes lush green plants, with nuts and fruits The muskrat is a large aquatic cousin to From the Algonquin Indian word “arakunem” added in autumn. One to three fawns are born the vole. A versatile home builder, it may meaning “hand-scratcher,” the raccoon is thought in spring after the autumn mating season. excavate a bank den along to wash food to make it easier to swallow. a stream or build a lodge Preferring stream or pond environments, River ? ? of INDIANA STATE PARKS of vegetation and mud feed on crayfish, frogs, insects, fruits The river is making a comeback in in a pond or marsh. and berries. Around people they are very bold, Indiana, thanks to the DNR. The muskrat feeds and no food-bearing picnic cooler or garbage River otters, once gone from on a variety of aquatic plants, can is safe from their nimble paws. the state, were reintroduced especially cattails. It can stay at Tippecanoe River State Park, submerged for up to 15 minutes. Patoka and Salamonie lakes, and in This large member of the family is several river systems throughout the state. well known for its lustrous brown . A “boar” Not long after sunset the yips and yowls of mink (male) will occupy a territory for about Populations of the Eastern , once this predominantly prairie may be 10 months, then move to thought to be nearly gone from the state, are heard in every county in Indiana. As with establish another. Using being monitored closely in southern Indiana other wild canines, both parents participate its keen sense of smell, by the Division of Fish & Wildlife. in raising the young. The coyote is a predator the mink forages at at the top of the night for frogs, fish and Extirpated Mammals food chain, hunting other aquatic . These mammals are well known from our , birds, mice Though mainly nocturnal, mink move about country’s history and cultural lore. They and other small and may sometimes be seen on cloudy days. inhabited wilderness Indiana but were animals. They are not eliminated by settlement. a threat to healthy, Striped grown . Infamous creature of the night, the skunk feeds Black Gray (Timber) widely on insects, grubs, bird eggs, small Bison (Buffalo) Red animals, nuts and fruit. If its bluff of shuffling Mountain and growling fails to ward off a The has a white-tipped tail, while threat, the skunk may bend its More Information the gray fox has a black-tipped tail. Due body into a U shape, with both There are many books to help you identify to an absence of any early records, there head and rear facing the intruder, mammals and understand their habits and Fox was some question about the red fox’s and unleash the foul, lingering habitats. These include: status as a native species. Some believed spray that we all recognize. This • Peterson Field Guide to Mammals it was introduced from Europe. Today, most defense is accurate up to 15 feet. • Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior mammalogists consider it to be a North • Mammals of Indiana American native. The fox diet White-tailed Deer • Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks includes small animals such as Indiana’s original deer herd was eliminated • A Key-Guide to Skulls and Lower Jaws mice, rabbits, birds and large from the state by the year 1900. Reintroduction • Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Mammals insects, plus occasional plant started in 1934, leading to the present-day The mission of the Interpretive Services is to provide in- Indiana Deptartment of Natural Resources and fruit items. Their arching statewide abundance. Deer feed year-round formation and offer interpretive experiences with Indiana’s predatory pounce is an on the buds and young stems of trees and natural and cultural resources to visitors, staff and a di- Division of State Parks unforgettable sight. bushes. In spring and summer their diet also verse public. interpretiveservices.IN.gov 9/2017 Our Wildlife Heritage Eastern Mole Eastern Chipmunk Historically, Indiana contained prairie The mole uses powerful front legs with broad This small ground squirrel with the white Weighing 30 to 70 pounds, the beaver is grasslands, deciduous forests, and wetlands feet to burrow a few inches beneath the “racing stripe” has a habit of cocking its tail Indiana’s largest . A broad flat tail, such as wet prairies, marshes and swamps. woodland surface (or perhaps your lawn) straight up as it runs. Listen webbed feet, and These natural plant communities were home in search of insects and in forest areas for their high- special ear and to 62 species of mammals. Today these worms. Active pitched “chip” that sounds nose valves equip habitat types remain, but in greatly diminished year-round, the alarm of your presence. the beaver for life in fragmented parcels quite unlike the vast it may easily ponds and streams. expanses of earlier days. Now, 55 mammal eat half its Woodchuck A single beaver can species are known to inhabit the state. The weight in food The woodchuck () awaking from fell hundreds of trees Division of State Parks manages 177,000 daily to fuel its hibernation is celebrated in American folklore each year to provide acres of land representing all three major strenuous lifestyle. as a sign of winter’s end. It is the largest food and material for habitat types. This list includes the mammals of ’s true hibernators. In late lodges and dams. that you are most apt to see. Bats summer the woodchuck Of the 12 species of bats known to occur in feeds constantly, White-footed Mouse Avoid approaching a wild animal too closely. It Indiana, the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, putting on the half- Unlike the gray house mouse that is an is against Indiana law for visitors to feed wild and little brown, Myotis lucifugus, are the inch of body fat that import from Europe, these native mice animals on DNR lands. Enjoy them from a most familiar. They are the “attic bats.” Red will sustain it during possess white bellies and brown fur above. distance—and remember that they are wild. bats, Lasiurus borealis, are also common. the coming winter. Nests of soft grasses and downy materials Bats are the only mammals capable of true are often found in low tree cavities, wood flight. They have good eyes, but use the piles, and even atop low-lying bird nests in The “possum” is echoes of high-pitched vocalizations to Gray Squirrel bushes. White-footed mice may have three North America’s direct their night flight and insect foraging. The orange-flanked fox or four litters per year only The enormous number of insects bats squirrel prefers open with four or five young or pouched consume directly benefits our agricultural wood lots and forest edges. per litter. They animal, related interests. Contrary to popular belief, few bats Gray are denizens of are endlessly to the kangaroos of carry . the deep, unbroken forest. pursued . An opossum In today’s fragmented as food by is so small at birth that woodlands both may be predators. two dozen could fit in a teaspoon. The young Rabbits are most active from sunset to found in overlapping home ranges. It was the stay in the pouch, nursing and growing for sunrise (nocturnal). Food preferences include gray squirrel that figured so highly in pioneer Meadow Vole 10 weeks. Of course, the opossum is famous lush green plants and the buds and bark of table fare. These small mouse-like mammals of for its “playing dead” defense, complete with woody plants. meadows and grassy areas are among the gaping mouth and limp body. Females line bowl- Southern most prolific breeders in nature. Litters of four shaped nests with Feeding by night and to seven young are produced almost monthly Short-tailed Shrew fur and grasses, sleeping in hollow tree from March to December, with the young Among the smallest of mammals, this annually producing dens by day, these small weaned at 12 days and 4-inch long sprite weighs only as much as several litters of squirrels are rarely seen due to capable of reproducing at six pennies. The shrew has an enormous four or five young their strictly nocturnal (nighttime) 25 days old. As with the appetite for insects, earthworms, slugs and each. Leave baby habits. Flaps of skin running from mice, voles figure highly snails, and eats almost double its weight in rabbits alone. Their mother is not far away, front to back legs allow them to glide in the diets of predators food daily. even if you can’t see her. (not fly) among the trees. such as hawks and .