Mammals of the Bay Area

Rodentia

Erethiozontidae
Porcupine

North American Porcupine

Erethizon dorsatum

Quills = protection: swell with blood; tiny barbs may make barbs difficult to remove.
30,000 quills.
Defense: lowers head and lashes with tail.
Vegetarian but love bark of young branches.
Slow, steady climbers.

May remain on one tree for several days.

Nocturnal.
Soles of feet dimpled.
Prefer treed areas.
Loves salt and will chew boots and any swat soaked or urine stained material.
Den in caves along waterways or under rocks. Usually solitary, but mat den together
in cold weather.
Mating: November or December.
Males urinates on female, then she raises her tail over her back to coitus.
Gestation 6-7 weeks. Young born in May-June with quills
Nurse for 4 months; Vegetation taken in 1 month.
Sexually active in 1.5-2.5 years.

North American Porcupine

Erethizon dorsatum

Geomyidae
Gophers

Bottas Pocket Gopher

Thomomys bottae

Yard and agricultural pests.

Aerate soil.
6 5/8- 11 inches; tail 1 1/8-3 inches.
Live in a variety of soil types.
Dugs tunnels for waste, rearing young, food
storage.
Feed on roots, tubers mainly, but akso other
vegetative parts.
Several litters per year; 18-19 day gestation.
6 young on average.

Bottas Pocket Gopher

Thomomys bottae

Muridae
Mouse Family

California Vole
Microtus californicus

Build runways through grass; small burrows.

May be 200 individuals per acre.
6 - 8 3/8 inchers; tail 1 -3 inches.
Inhabit dry and moist grassy areas, salt and freshwater
marshes.
Nests made of grass and moss in burrow or under logs
or rocks.
Eats roots, tubers in winter, grass, seeds and leaves in
summer.
Gestation 21 days. Multiple litters per year.
Young born blind and hairless; open eyes in 2 weeks,
shortly before weaning.

California Meadow Vole

Microtus californicus

Heteromyidae
Pocket Mouse Family

Narrow-faced Kangaroo Rat

Dipodomys venustus

Narrowest face of kangaroo rats in California.

Prefers dense vegetation of coast
Also called Santa Cruz rat.
White lateral stripes on tail.
Complex burrow with separate chambers for food
storage, nesting; sometimes escape burrows.
Seeds of forbs, buds, also oats, barley, rye.
Some females have 2 litters in summer.
2-4 young.
Relatively long ears.

Narrow-faced Kangaroo Rat

Dipodomys venustus

Heermanns Kangaroo Rat

Dipodomys heermanni

Must drink additional fluid.

Habitat destruction responsible for decline.
Several subspecies.
Long silky fur; White tip on tail.
Woodlands and foothills.
Uses old burrows of other rodents. May re-excavate to
make new chambers.
Feed on seeds, also consumes some vegetation.
May have more than 1 liter of 2-5 young.
Weaned at 17 days.

Heermanns Kangaroo Rat

Dipodomys heermanni

California Kanagroo Rat

Dipodomys californicus

Suffer population decline in cold weather.

Found at night with light rain.
Removes mud from burrow after heavy rain.
4 toes on hind foot.
White lateral bands on tail
Desert to scrub and chaparral.
Complex burrows: nest chamber, sleeping chamber, food larder,
escape passages.
Eats seeds and berries + green vegetation in spring/summer.
Females ma have more than one litter per year 2-4 young per litter.
Gestation = one month.

California Kanagroo Rat

Dipodomys californicus

Deer Mouse
Peromyscus maniculatus

Name means little mouse with a small pouch; and small hand.
Diurnal but active during full moon.
Use same pathways over and over and retrace their steps when they leave the nest.
May climb trees.
May leap 0.6 meters.
Curious: assumes an elongated posture with erect ears, sniffing and probing.
California Deer mouse may nest above ground, also use hollows, abandoned nests.
Each nests is ball shaped and has 1 or 2 entrances; build soft nest.
Southern species builds huge nests a bushel of grass to build nest.
Omnivorousgreen vegetation, seeds, arthropods, berries.
Size of territory is directly related to food supply.
Build nest during courtship.
23 day gestation; 4-5 young; weaning 27-28 days.

Males may remain in nest after birth, but are non-parental.

Fundamental species for most predators.

Deer Mouse
Peromyscus maniculatus

San Joaquin Pocket Mouse

Perognathus inornatus

Likes to sand bathe

Buff to orange colored fur.
External cheek pouches.
White patches at base of tail.
Tail longer than body
Grassy to weedy areas with loose soil
Sees are vegetation are eaten
Breeding March-July 2x litters per season
23 day gestation.

San Joaquin Pocket Mouse

Perognathus inornatus

Brush Mouse
Peromyscus boylii
Take cover running up shrubs
Evergreen-oak with underbrush; rocs,
juniper or pinyon communities
White belly and feet
Large ears, long tail over total length.
Sees, berries, cactus fruit
Bests in burrows
2 litters per year = typical; spring and fall

Brush Mouse
Peromyscus boylii

California (Parasitic) Mouse

Peromyscus californicus

Strong pair bonds; raise young together.

Extra body heat of male causes young to grow faster.
Semi-arboreal; no digging.
Make nests in cracks in wood or share woodrat nests.
Large, yellow or gray; spot on breast= gray or buff
colored.
White belly and feet.
Bicolored tail.
Found in forests, ravines, rocky and brushy areas.
Eat seeds, flowers fruit, arthropods
Several litters per year; 35-45 day gestation.

California (Parasitic) Mouse

Peromyscus californicus

California Pocket Mouse

Chaetodipus californicus
Most common pocket mouse on coast. Darkgray: spine-like bristles on rump.
Sage and chaparral slopes.
Digs simple burrows in sandy soils.
Opening plugged during the day .Separate
chamber for sleeping.
Probably feeds on seeds, insects and green
vegetation.
One litter per year between April and June; 2-5
young.

California Pocket Mouse

Chaetodipus californicus

Western Harvest Mouse

Reithodontomys megalotis

Smallest mouse in California.

Mostly nocturnal
Uses vole runways for foraging
Harvests grass cuttings and masking mounds of them.
Lives less than one year.
Resembles house mouse.
Brown body with grayish-white or cinnamon underbelly

Longitudinal groove on each incisor.

Live in almost any habitat with cover.
May eat grasses, but mainly seeds and insects
Ball-shaped nest on ground or hanging low in weeds.
Lines interior with cattail fluff.
Reproduction year round in warm weather.
23-24 day gestation; sexual maturity in 4-5 months.

Western Harvest Mouse

Reithodontomys megalotis

Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse

Reithodontomys raviventris

Endangered species.
Associated with glassworts or pickle weed.
Marsh destruction is may cause of decline.
Tail thicker tat base than Western Harvest Mouse
Brown body and cinnamon to tawny underbelly.
Also has longitudinal groove on incisors.
Feeds on seeds and grasses.
Can drink salt water.
Grassy nest, often an abandoned birds nest built above
ground.
Cattail fluff nest lining.
Reproduces March- October.

Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse

Reithodontomys raviventris

House Mouse
Mus musculus
Came to US with settlers carrying grain
Yellow-brown, gray or black back and grayish
underbelly. Yellow wash on sides possible.
Large almost hairless ears.
Brownish feet
Almost anything is eaten.
Shredded paper, rags, vegetation = nest.
Gestation 3-4 weeks; sexual maturity at 6- 8
weeks.

House Mouse
Mus musculus

Desert Wood Rat

Neotoma lepida

Dominant nocturnal desert rodent

Build burrows inside prickly pear cactus or below them/
Defends cactus as a water source from all other rodents.
Agile enough to avoids spines.
Buff, gray or sooty above; white belly.
Feet are white, but all hairs are grey at the base.
Found in any habitat that has prickly pear cactus.
Nests ramshackled array of twigs, grass, spines.
Eats cactus pulp; seeds, even bark of other plants.
Mating occurs in spring; gestation one month.

Desert Wood Rat

Neotoma lepida

Dusky-footed Wood Rat

Neotoma fuscipes
Large nests built on ground or in trees 50 ft up.
Never finish building, add trinkets to nest.
May be occupied by more than one wood rat and several
other animal species.
Tail longer than other wood rats.
Inside large nests are sleeping and caching chambers.
Usually one female per nest; used for many generations.
Eat green vegetation, seeds, fruit, nuts and some fungi.
Mating from spring to fall, but one litter per year.
Gestation = 33 days
Outside mating season, male lives in his own small nest.

Dusky-footed Wood Rat

Neotoma fuscipes

Brown or Norway Rat

Rattus norvegicus

Not found in mountains,

Introduced in 1775
Eat nearly anything
Vectors of disease.
Back is brown, black or reddish
Belly is pal yellow top gray
Always live near humans. Nests may be grass, paper,
rags.
Gestation 21-22 days; sexually mature in 3 months.
May breed year-round

Brown or Norway Rat

Rattus norvegicus

Black or Roof Rat

Rattus rattus
Black, but more frequently yellowish brown
flecked with black in California.
Slimmer than Norway rat & with a longer tail.
Also called Roof Rat.
Similar in habits to Norway rat; not found above
2600 feet.

Black or Roof Rat

Rattus rattus

Common Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus
Not a true rat, more, more like a giant vole.
Ondatra = Iroquois name; zibethicus means having a
musky odor.
Swim by kicking hind legs; use tail as rudder.
On land, move with a loping hop.
Spend time grooming on land; females groom young.
May gnaw legs off in a trap.
Maintain several dwellings within their range.
Bank dens preferred in summer; free standing lodges in
winter.
Bank den = series of tunnels, maybe over 325 feet with a
depth of 5 feet.

Common Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus
May block entrances with vegetarian when water levels drop. May
also dig canals to facilitate waterways to lodges.
Free standing lodges can be 8 in diameter and 4 high.
Multiple entrances; keep animals dry in winter,
May also inhabit beaver dens.
Feeding hits are non-residential structures and resemble miniature
lodges. 2-3x as many of these as residential lodges. Also make
non0-penclosed feeding platforms. High rise or floating raft fro
feeding.
Nocturnal, but crepuscular in summer. May be diurnal in winter.
Instinctive urge to build happens n in Fall.
In icy winters, active muskrat dens can be seen by looking for
bubbles un the ice due to exhalation. Muskrats may inhale these
bubbles as well.

Common Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus
Tolerant of high CO2.
Eat shoots, roots, bulbs, tubers, stems and leaves of aquatic
vegetation.
May consume meat at times (crabs, crayfish, mussels, clams, frogs,
turtles and fish.
Cannot feed and swim at the same time.
Prefer slow moving or still waters with easily excavated bank.
May travel up to 20 miles at sea.
Home ranges vary from 100 diameter (marshes to 275 pond
dwellers; riverbank ranges 585 feet.
Populations: 0.4 to 4 animals per acre or 0.8 to 80 per river mile.
Both sexes have scent glands, more active in male.
May defecate in water or have communal latrines.
1 month gestation period.
Father provides young with food and protects them.

Common Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus

May be monogamous
Parents will kill young if overpopulation occurs.
Disperse in Spring; females allowed to stay closer.
Aggressive toward each other except during winter; takes ~ 2 years
for this characteristic to occur.
Prey to other animals including mink, raccoon, owls, otters,
weasels, and foxes and coyotes.
Mink and muskrat populations rise and declines are linked.
Some wetland succession by vegetation removal.
May denude an area of vegetation eat-outs.

Common Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus

Castoridae
Beaver Family

American Beaver
Castor canadensis
Sound of running water stimulates they to build dams,
but not during heavy rains or flood seasons.
Will nor build a dam unless water levels are normal.
Active 12 hours per day, spring, summer, fall. Eat and
sleep in winter.
Early on family members for grooming; split toe nails on
2 medial toes on hindfoot used for this purpose.
Graceful swimmers, but awkward on land; always near
water.
Eyes and ears located high on heads, so they can see
and hear when almost completly submerged.
Can remain submerged for 15 minuets; 1-2 minutes are
more typical.

American Beaver
Castor canadensis
Lodges may be 10 feet high and 25 feet across.
Several entrances open into mudrooms.
Here they shake and clean themselves before entering
the main den. Mud plastered interior walls
Each beaver has a grass-lined bed, so floor is covered
with vegetation.
May excavate burrows in river banks in lieu of lodges.
Begin by carrying long lengths of wood to a dam site.
They secure one end to the bottom while the opposite
ends leans facing the current.
Do not pat mud with tail, but will pat mud down with feet
and carry mud under their chins.

American Beaver
Castor canadensis

May make a series of dams called beaver steps in waterways.

Eat leaves, bark, twigs, prefer willows and aspens but will used birches,
maples, alders, and cottonwoods,
Eat 1 -4.5 pounds of food daily.
60 hours for complete digestion
Will secrete greenish scat that is consumed a second time. Second
defecation resembles sawdust pellets, deposited in a latrine
Call fell a 5 in thick willow in 3m minutes.
Strip felled tress of branches.
Eat succulent plants.
May also feed on salmon carcasses.
Fur trade reduced beaver populations to near extinction.
Densities vary from 1 3 animals per 0.4 square mile.
Have scent glands and castor sacs on anus used for marking territory.
Castoreum= organic matter + urine that collects in castor sacs deposited on
scent mounds.

American Beaver
Castor canadensis

Females give birth to 3-4 kits.

Born with fur.
Can walk in swim or moments after birth.
Weaned in 6-8 weeks.
Disperse eat 2 years of age.
Typical distance = 10 miles; up to 68 miles.
Gestation = 15 weeks.
Reach sexual maturity in 1.5 3 years.
Work in extend families of 4-8 individuals.
Dams important for ecosystem diversity.
Keystone species.

American Beaver
Castor canadensis

Aplodontidae
Mountain Beaver Family

Mountain Beaver
Aplodontia rufa

Only living member of its family.

Resembles a small marmot.
No relationship to beaver
Oldest living rodent.
Requires ferns as primary food source.
Simple teeth: no folded enamel as in other rodents.
Keeps stones in burrow to sharpen teeth,
And may use them to block entrances of vacant burrows; called
Mountain Beaver baseballs.
Can climb to 13 feet to eat tender ends of saplings.
Carry food to burrows and eat using semi-opposable thumbs.
Re-ingests soft fecal pellets like rabbits; hard pellets (result of
second digestion) discarded in a latrine.
Each limb has 5 toes; naked soles

Mountain Beaver
Aplodontia rufa

Abundant white whiskers.

Habitat: fern forests from sea level to tree line.
Eat sword fern, bracken fern and other plants.
Eats red alder tree leaves in fall of diet.
Constructs oval burrows; use only a few entrances to pile excavated
dirt.
Best chambers have dried leaves and grasses trampled flat 1-5 feet
below surface.
Tent-like structures may be found over burrow entrances (twigs and
leaves).
Gestation = 28-30 days.
Young born March-April. Mature in ~ 2 years.

Mountain Bever
Aplodontia rufa

Sciuridae
Squirrel Family

Sonoma Chipmunk
Tamias sonomae

Large chipmunk 8 5/8 11 inches

Stripes indistinct
Sunbathers
Reddish tail
Dark spots between ear and eye
Forests and some chaparral
Build nests in burrows, tree crevices, hollow logs
Eat pine cones, seeds, insects and fungi
Mate in early Spring
30 day gestation; weaned in 5 weeks

Sonoma Chipmunk
Tamias sonomae

Merriam's Chipmunk
Tamias merriami
Indistinct stripes
Dig extensive burrows and aerate soils.
Feed on weed and insect species; also create seed
caches. Also seed on frit and flowers, nuts and acorns,
Tail edges with white hairs
Rocky areas, brush lands, low elevation coniferous
forests.
Nest in burrows, hollow logs, and tree crevices.
Breed in April.
30 day weaning.

Merriam's
Chipmunk
Tamias merriami

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

Introduced. Also has melanistic or albino forms.

Melanism may be complete or partial.
Gray with yellow highlights; Pure white belly.
:Prefer mature nut-bearing trees.
Common in suburbs in south bay.
May eat nuts, flowers, young leaves, nesting birds.
Build drays or use woodpecker holes.
Breed December- February
40-45 day gestation with 1 8 young.
Weaning in 3 weeks.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

Western Gray Squirrel

Sciurus griseus

Largest arboreal squirrel in our area.

Nests near tops of tall trees.
Displaced by Fox Squirrel.
Lodge in tree cavities in winter.
Does not hibernate.
Gather food and store it in caches tree forks, fallen logs or bury it in ground.
Good problem solvers.
Tail has lateral bands of gray, white or black
No yellowish hairs
Food pine cones, seeds, berries, acorns, nuts, fungi, insects, tree sap.
Can be a pest in almond orchards
Makes a spherical nest called a dray up t 2 wide
Mating in our area in spring,
3-5 young born Feb- June
Wean in about a month
Typically one litter per year.

Western
Gray
Squirrel
Sciurus griseus

Douglass Squirrel
Tamiasciurus douglassii

Also called Chickaree

Vocal squirrel that scold's intruders.
Coniferous forest dwellers
.Can cut ~18 sequoia cones per minute.
Caches cones in tree trunks or fallen logs.
Does not hibernate.
Mates in early spring leaps in trees + high speed chases.
Orange underbelly, feet and eye ring.
Summer coat is olive brown; winter coat is grayish.
Black whiskers.
Feds predominately on pine & fir but diet can also include mushrooms,
berries, nuts, samaras and catkins.
Eats seeds, then discards scales onto floor crating a large waste heap.

May nest in hollow tree or construct a dray high in canopy.

Gestation 35 days; weaned in 7-8 weeks; ~ one year to maturity
Territories established shortly after weaning.

Douglass
Squirrel
Tamiasciurus
douglassii

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Sciurus niger

Largest squirrel in North America, but often smaller than Western Gray
Squirrel in Bay Area.
Prefer forests with open understory.
Make leaf nests and tree dens. Tree dens preferred for raising young.
Eat bulbs, insects, tree buds, tubers, roots, pine seeds, crops
No sexual dimorphism.
Several sets of vibrissae (whiskers) used to assess environment located
above eyes, chin, nose, and on each forearm.
Come into estrus in mid-December
2 liters per year
Females sexually mature at 10-11 months.
44-45 day gestation; most births March-July; 3 per litter
Slow to develop: eyes open at 4-5 weeks; ears 6 weeks
Weaned at 8-120 weeks, but not self supporting until 12 weeks.
Females live for 12.6 years in wild; males 8.6 years.

Eastern Fox Squirrel

Sciurus niger

California (Beechey) Ground

Squirrel
Spermophilus beecheyi
Also called Douglass Squirrel; or Beecheys Ground Squirrel.

V shaped pattern of white fur at nape of neck.

Sometimes climbs trees to 20 ft.
Open areas, pastures, rocky outcrops, rolling hills. Not very
particular.
Eats seeds, stems. Roots, fruit, insects and small invertebrates.
Dens 5 top 200 feet long 3-6 inches wide.
Live alone or in groups, built have their own entrances.
May hibernate; mate shortly afterwards.
One month gestation. 5-8 young.
Beginning burrowing at 8 weeks old.
Only ground squirrels with highly bushy tails.

California (Beechey) Ground Squirrel

Spermophilus beecheyi