BCC-MamMarRo

Mammals, Marsupials, and Rodents
our Furred Friends

The Bat

There are a lot of myths about bats: they are blind, they will suck your blood, and they are rodents or birds. They are not blind, they will not suck your blood, they are mammals and they are actually very helpful to humanity.

Mule Deer

Deer give birth in late May through July and fawns weigh only four to six pounds at birth. Deer generally produce twins, but young does may have single fawns and triplets can occur. Those cute little spots will stay for 78 to 83 days.

Coyote

Coyotes are very adaptable critters and have successfully made the American landscape their home from the forests and mountains of our continent to large cities like Los Angeles. Their populations are at an all-time high.

Marmot

Ring Tailed Cat

The ring-tailed cat is actually not a cat, but a member of the raccoon family. They are buff or dark brown in color, with white undersides and a black and white striped tail with 14-16 stripes encircling the tail. They are smaller than a house cat and weigh only 1 ½ to just over 3 pounds.

Virginia Opossum

QUESTION: What male mammal is called a “jack”, a female of the same species is called a “jill”, their young are called a “joey” and a group of them is a “passel”?

ANSWER: the opossum! The opossum is North America’s only marsupial. Marsupials have a pouch where the young develop. An opossum gives birth to several tiny young and nurses them in her pouch until there are 2 to 3 months old.

Gray Fox

In California, gray foxes are generally found at elevations of 1000 to 3000 feet. Foxes are crepuscular which means they are most active at dawn and dusk. They “wake up” shortly before sunset to scope out the immediate area and then forage for food.

Raccoon

Raccoons are part of a small unique group of mammals, along with humans, and monkeys, that have a large number of nerve endings in their hands and a disproportionately large area of their brain devoted to those nerve endings.

American Mink

The American Mink is a semi-aquatic species found along streams, lakes, swamps and marshes.

Chipmunk

This is a small, striped rodent in the genus Tamias; Greek for “treasurer”, “steward”, or “housekeeper”, and reflects their habit of collecting and storing food for winter.

Black Bear

Black bears are large! Females weigh between 100 and 200 pounds, and adult males weigh between 150-350 pounds. Some hunters in California have taken bears weighing over 600 pounds.

Western Gray Squirrel

The Western Gray Squirrel is the largest native tree squirrel in the western United States. They are generally between 14-35 ounces and 18-24 inches in length.

Pallid Bat

These bats are found in arid regions in the west and along the coast from Canada to Mexico. They like rocky outcroppings and sparsely vegetated grasslands. Habitat must be near water.

Skunk

It’s 2 a.m. on a hot summer’s night. The windows are open to allow any breeze in to cool off the house. Sniff? Sniff? SNIFF! Honey, wake up! We have to close the windows!