Muskrat love

Muskrat love? Well not quite, as I was only able to spot a single muskrat during a late April morning hike along the Delaware River. The Captain & Tennille’s 1970s hit not withstanding, the muskrat is an interesting creature to observe. The one that I saw this day was swimming in a portion of the D&H canal that parallels the river in many stretches.

At first glance, the muskrat may resemble a small beaver while swimming, but a closer look reveals that the size difference is too great (five pounds or so vs. 25 pounds and up for a beaver). A muskrat also has a tail that is slightly flattened laterally, versus the beaver’s pancake-flattened tail in the horizontal axis. Like a beaver, they can swim underwater, and can stay underwater for about 15 minutes.

Muskrats build burrows along a bank of a pond and marsh for shelter, and they build nests by piling up vegetation on top of a rock or stump next to the shore. They breed during the warmer spring and summer months, and the young are weaned after a month or so. They average about six young per litter.

Muskrats favor vegetation for food, but they will eat other animals, even resorting to fighting and cannibalism when they live in larger groups. (Not too much muskrat love lost with that behavior!)

Muskrat fur is soft and waterproof, which makes it attractive for the fur trade. Muskrat meat has been reported to be tasty, and in some communities, has picked up the nickname “marsh rabbit.”