Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Pygmy Rabbit
Pygmy Rabbits dig extensive burrow systems, which are also used by other animals. Loss of habitat is a direct threat to this species, which depends on big sagebrush, particularly mature stands of it. Learn more about the Brachylagus...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Plains Harvest Mouse
Plains Harvest Mice are found in grassy areas, including hay and wheat fields. They seem to prefer shorter grasses, and build round nests of grass on or near the ground. Learn more about the Reithrodontomys montanus, more commonly known...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
Salt-marsh Harvest Mice have a very limited range, they live only in San Francisco Bay's tidal marshes and diked salt marshes and they have very specific habitat requirements. They need dense cover. Learn more about the Reithrodontomys...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Western Harvest Mouse
Western Harvest Mice are adaptable, widespread, and abundant, especially in meadows, prairies, old pastures, stream valleys, and marshes. They eat seeds, insects, and plants. Learn more about the Reithrodontomys megalotis, more commonly...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Townsend's Mole
The largest moles in North America, weighing in at 100 - 171 grams, Townsend's Moles live only in the lowlands on the western side of the Cascade Mountains, from northwestern California to extreme southwestern British Columbia. One...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Nelson's Antelope Squirrel
Open, rolling land and gentle slopes with shrubs are the habitat of Nelson's Antelope Squirrel, which lives only in a small region of California in and near the San Joaquin Valley. The squirrels live in relatively small colonies of six...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Mexican Fox Squirrel
Mexican Fox Squirrels are large but secretive, and though they spend much of their time on the ground, can be difficult to find at any season. They do not store food or bury nuts. Learn more about the Sciurus nayaritensis, more commonly...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Yellow Nosed Cotton Rat
Voles and cotton rats usually live in different geographic regions, but both groups of small rodents eat grass and make runways. Yellow-nosed Cotton Rats are especially vole-like because they are small and live in grassy patches of...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Tawny Bellied Cotton Rat
The tawny-bellied cotton rat is the largest of the Sigmodon species, and dominates other cotton rats where more than one species occurs. Its back fur has a speckled, "salt and pepper" look, and its underparts are buff-colored, giving it...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Prairie Shrew
The Prairie Shrew is small, weighing only 2-5 g, brown, and relatively short-tailed. This species inhabits the northern Great Plains in Canada and the United States. Learn more about the Sorex haydeni, more commonly known as a Prairie...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Smoky Shrew
Shrews of many kinds often live in size-ranked communities. Such a community might include large, medium, and small shrews such as the Short-tailed, Smoky, and Cinereus Shrews, which feed, respectively, on large, medium, and small...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Long Tailed Shrew
The Long-tailed Shrew probably uses its long tail for balance when it is climbing among the rocks or boulders that are always present where it lives. It spends almost all its time underground, and was, until recently, thought to be...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Stejneger's Beaked Whale
Thirty-one of the 48 sightings of Stejneger's beaked whale have come from Alaskan waters. It is suspected this species favors deep waters, including the Aleutian Trench and the Aleutian Basin, which is some 3,500 m deep, rather than the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Meadow Vole
Meadow Voles have a remarkable reproductive output: they are the world's most prolific mammals. Females can breed when they are a month old and produce litters of 3-10 pups every three weeks for the rest of their lives. Learn more about...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Tundra Vole
Tundra Voles have the northernmost distribution of any North American species of Microtus. They are widespread in northern latitudes in Eurasia, too, where they are known as Root Voles, and probably migrated to North America across the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Montane Vole
Montane Voles are found in a variety of habitats, including woods and meadows. They are even found above timberline. Learn more about the Microtus montanus, more commonly known as a Montane Vole, in this easy-to-read species overview by...