One of the neatest things about working at the WRC is the opportunity to see such a wide variety of species.  (more than 165 every year!)  Here are a couple of the new admits to our bustling Mammal Nursery:

13-lined Ground Squirrel

You may have seen them alongside roads or even in your backyard, but these little squirrels have beautiful markings when viewed up close.  They’re quite common: found throughout most of North America.  They live in burrows and do a true hibernation, sealing the openings of their burrows before heavy snowfall.  And they’re fast!  They can run up to 8mph.  Unfortunately, in the wild nearly 90% of the season’s young do not make it through their first fall due to predation.

Short-tailed Weasel

This cute little creature will turn into an impressive hunter before it’s released.  Short-tailed Weasels are widely distributed throughout America, including Alaska and are oftentimes referred to as “ermine.”  During the winter their soft brown coats turn a brilliant white, helping them remain unseen by both prey and predators.

The Short-tailed Weasel grows up to 15″ long and have a very high metabolism, requiring them to eat 40% of their body weight every day.  Their preferred diet is mice, but they’ll consume anything they can catch, even young snowshoe hares.

They have a large territory (nearly 40 acres) and have been known to travel 3 miles in search of food.  They’re a member of the Mustelidae family which includes skunks, otters, marten mink and the wolverine.  When frightened they emit a pungent musky odor similar to a skunk.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 10:45 am and is filed under Nursery News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.