COMMON
MAMMALS YOU CAN SEE AT THORNHILL
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Red fox/Gray fox Foxes are nocturnal hunters
and use an acute sense of hearing and a characteristic high
pounce to capture food Prey includes mice, small
rodents, birds, and rabbits. Both adults care for the
young in a den. Foxes communicate both vocally (yips
and howls) and with a pungent scent from glands located at
the base of the tail. You might catch a glimpse of one of
these secretive animals crossing a quiet property road. |
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Coyote The coyote, also known as the brush or
prairie wolf, is small, slender and resembles a German
shepherd. Coyotes are common in Indiana and can be hear
"yipping" in the evenings. Both parents care for the
young to reinforce the bonds of the pack. The coyote is
an opportunist when it comes to eating. It hunts
rabbits, birds, mice and voles. Coyotes are usually
solitary hunters but a pack may bring down a deer. |
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Mink The mink, or "marsh otter," has lustrous fur and a
distinctive white chin patch. He occupies a territory for about 10
months then moves to another. The female has one to eight offspring
per year. The mink uses scent to hunt at night and in cloudy weather
for fish, frogs, water birds, rabbits, snakes and other animals. This
fierce hunter will attack and kill prey larger than itself. The mink
can occasionally be seen in and around ponds and marshes. |
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Raccoon The scientific name for raccoon comes from the Latin
lotor meaning "one who washes," because they have a habit of
washing their food; not to clean it, but to make it softer and easier to
eat. Raccoons feed along waterways and lakes on fish, crayfish, frogs,
mice and other animals. They have nimble paws that can open lids or
doors. No cooler or garbage can is safe if there is an odor of food.
They weigh between 15 to 40 pounds and a female has three to seven offspring
per year. |
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Striped skunk Skunks are
omnivorous nighttime hunters. This means they feed on almost anything,
including crickets and grasshoppers, nuts, eggs, and fruit. They use
smell to locate food. Skunks live in small groups and often share a
burrow with the fox or raccoon who dug it. A skunk will ward off an
unwelcome guest first with a visual warning by shuffling, hissing and
growling. If this does not work he will bend his body in a U-shape
with both head and rear facing the intruder, aim at the eyes and spray the
foul, lingering, pungent spray we all recognize, The spray can travel
up to fifteen feet! |
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Virginia opossum The opossum has a unique defense. He
"plays dead" in a believable display that includes a lolling tongue and a
limp body, Although the opossum looks dead he is actually very alert.
He has a prehensile (primitive) tail that aids in balance. The opossum
has 50 teeth packed into his mouth; in comparison, humans have 32.
Opossums have one to two litters of six to ten young. They are so
small when born that twenty-four of them could fit into a teaspoon!
The lifespan of the opossum is roughly two years. The opossum can be
seen at night. |
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White-tailed deer Deer are usually solitary. They
live in doe groups (doe with yearlings and fawns) or bachelor groups (all
male). A doe's offspring, usually twins, will stay with her for up to
two years. Deer feed on woody stems, green plants, nuts, or fruits in
the early morning and late afternoon. |
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Fox squirrel Fox squirrels have a reddish brown to orange
upper body and grizzled, gray and white undersides. They are hefty,
secretive animals that occupy woodlot edges or small rural communities.
They eat a variety of plant material including buds, fleshy fruits, nuts and
wild berries. Fox squirrels usually have three young per year.
They can be seen along the edge of wooded areas and around our bird feeders. |
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Eastern chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped
squirrel-like creatures found around brushy areas, stone walls in woods and
even in the suburbs. they live in burrows and hibernate through
the winter. They have an interesting behavior, stuffing their cheek
pouches with as many seeds as possible. In fact, one chipmunk
was found with over 70 sunflower seeds packed in his cheek pouches!
They empty their pouches of goodies by pushing their paws against their
cheeks and squeezing out the seeds. Chipmunks also enjoy nuts and
fruits. If you are in a wooded area and hear a high-pitched "chip" it
could be a chipmunk scolding you. |
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Eastern cottontail rabbit The rabbit is crepuscular (active in
the evening and morning) and nocturnal. He feeds on lush green plants,
buds, and bark but does not eat seeds, bulbs or tubers. The pregnant
female digs shallow bowl-shaped nest and lines it with grasses and fur.
She can have three to four litters per year. Each litter may have four
to five blind, naked, helpless young, If you find what appears
to be abandoned baby rabbits, leave them alone. They are probably just
in their nest with their mother close by. Rabbits are common along
property roadsides in the early and mid-summer. |
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Meadow vole Voles are
small, stocky, rodents that are usually brown or gray. They have small
eyes, stout ears and tails tat vary in length from species to species.
You can see their network of above ground tunnels winding through grasses
and other vegetation. Voles eat grasses, fruits, seeds, insects, bark
and fungi. They have two or three liters per year with four to five
young per litter. These small mammals are an extremely important prey
base for owls, hawks, foxes and coyotes. |
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Deer mouse/White-footed mouse Native wild mice have tails
one-third to half the total length of the body. They also have large
ears, huge eyes, white bellies and fee, and a rich brown fur coat above.
In contrast, the common house mouse has small eyes and oily brownish fur.
Mice feed on seeds, seeds, and more seeds, and in the fall, store large
quantities. Nests are made of soft grasses and downy materials in
crevasses of trees. A mouse can have two to four litters per year with
three to five young per litter. Mice can be found in old birds' nests,
abandoned birdhouses, and tall grasses o the properties.
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Short-tailed shrew Shrews are found in the suburbs and
the country. These tiny animals weigh less than a fraction of an ounce
and are two to four inches long. They travel through mole or mice
tunnels and runways they make themselves. They use echolocation to aid
in movement through these tunnels and in their constant search for food.
They eat what they find in the tunnels, including earthworms, insects,
salamanders, small birds, and young rabbits. The lower jaw has saliva
containing a poison that affects the prey's heart rate, blood pressure and
respiration. In humans the poison can cause severe swelling. There are
three to ten young born per year in a nest of shredded leaves, grasses and
wildflowers. |
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Eastern mole These
underground mammals burrow in fields or lawns close to water. They
have small external ears, flexible fur that aids in movement underground and
excellent hearing. They use their broad, short, powerful feet to
burrow through the upper soil layer. They must eat over one-third of
their body weight a day to remain healthy. Insects, insects larvae and
earthworms form the bulk of the mole's diet. |
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Woodchuck How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a
woodchuck could chuck wood? Woodchucks or groundhogs are active above
ground for only a few hours each day. they have an elaborate system of
burrows that are constantly changing. Groundhogs are herbivores
(vegetarians). They eat alfalfa, clover, and dandelions, They
begin accumulating fat in July and early fall they have half inch of fat
over all of their body They hibernate through the winter in the main
chamber of their burrow that has been lined with grasses and leaves and is
closed off with soil. When hibernating they curl up in a ball, their body
temperature lowers and they breath about once every six minutes. They
come out of hibernation in February or March. Groundhogs can be seen
along roadsides or in freshly planted farm fields. |
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Muskrat Muskrats live in bank dens hollowed out in
waterways or in lodges built on platforms of vegetation and mud. They
are active in the evening, early morning and on cloudy days.
Muskrats make runways in the water and through vegetation for easier travel
and can stay submerged for up to fifteen minutes. They eat the roots,
shoots, stems, and rhizomes of cattails. They have two to three
litters of four to six younger per year. Muskrats can be seen gliding
across ponds and marshes. |
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Beaver The beaver is Indiana's largest rodent and is the
second largest rodent in the world. Beavers weigh 30 to 70 pounds and
have a broad flattened tail and webbed hind feet. Their nose and ears
have valves that close when they dive. A beaver family can fell as
many as 300 trees in a single winter. they eat the bark and twigs and
store a food supply underwater in the mud. They rely on those trees
plus the store of fat that they have accumulated in their tail to survive
the cold. These rodents live in lodges; dams are built solely to
create a pond. |
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Bats
Bats are the only mammals that can fly. They use echolocation to
locate moths, mosquitoes, and other nocturnal insects. One bat
can consume as many as 3,000 insects a night. A female bat has only
one offspring per year. Bats hibernate in colonies and require a very
specific range of temperature and humidity to survive this crucial period.
Contrary to popular belief, very few bats carry rabies. In fact, less than
one half of the one percent actually carry the disease. You can see
these beneficial creatures around a pond at dusk. Bats found in this area
include the Indiana bat, little brown bat, and big brown bat. |
This checklist was
derived from "Common Mammals of the Upper Wabash Reservoirs "
published by the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources and available at the
Salamonie
Lake Interpretive Center. Contact naturalist Marvin McNew (HC 1989).
Unless otherwise indicated, all images on this page were
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