“Muskrats are medium-sized, semi-aquatic rodents native to North America. Despite the name, they’re more closely related to voles than rats. They have waterproof brown fur, partially webbed hind feet, and a thin tail flattened side to side. Muskrats eat cattails and other water plants and build dome-shaped lodges that shelter many wetland animals.”
If you’ve spotted a small brown animal swimming across a pond at dusk, trailing a V-shaped wake, there’s a good chance it was a muskrat. These busy rodents are some of the most common mammals in North American wetlands, and their feeding and building shape the marshes they live in. Here’s what you need to know about them.
Muskrat Quick Facts
| Trait | Details |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Ondatra zibethicus |
| Family | Cricetidae (voles, lemmings, hamsters) |
| Weight | About 1.5 to 4 pounds |
| Length | About 10 to 14 inches plus an 8 to 11 inch tail |
| Range | Most of North America; introduced in Europe and Asia |
| Habitat | Marshes, ponds, lakes, slow rivers, ditches |
| Diet | Mainly aquatic plants; some animal food |
| Lifespan | Often 1 to 3 years in the wild |
Not a True Rat
Muskrats get their name from their rat-like appearance and the musky scent they produce from glands near the tail, used to mark territory. But they belong to the same subfamily as voles and lemmings. They’re the largest member of that group. See voles and lemmings and types of rodents.
How to Identify a Muskrat
- Size: much smaller than a beaver, roughly the size of a large guinea pig with a long tail.
- Tail: long, scaly, and flattened vertically (side to side), which helps it steer while swimming.
- Fur: dense, glossy brown fur with a soft, waterproof underfur.
- Feet: hind feet are partially webbed and fringed with stiff hairs.
- In water: muskrats swim with their head and often part of the back above water, with the tail sculling side to side.
Beavers are much larger with flat, paddle-shaped tails, and nutria have round tails. Compare all three in beaver vs muskrat vs nutria.
Built for the Water
Muskrats are excellent swimmers and can stay underwater for well over 10 minutes. Like beavers, they can close their lips behind their incisors, letting them chew plants underwater without swallowing water. Their dense underfur traps air, keeping them warm and buoyant.
What Do Muskrats Eat?
Muskrats mainly eat aquatic and wetland plants, especially cattails, bulrushes, sedges, water lilies, and arrowhead. They eat roots, stems, and leaves. They also eat some animal food, including mussels, crayfish, frogs, and small fish, particularly when plants are scarce.
Muskrat Lodges and Burrows
Muskrats build two kinds of homes:
- Lodges: dome-shaped piles of cattails, reeds, and mud in shallow water, with underwater entrances and a dry chamber inside. They’re smaller than beaver lodges and made mostly of soft plants rather than sticks.
- Bank burrows: tunnels dug into riverbanks and pond edges, with entrances below the waterline.
They also build “push-ups,” small feeding shelters of plant material over holes in the ice, which let them rest and eat during winter.
Why Muskrats Matter to Wetlands
By eating cattails and other dense plants, muskrats open up areas of water in marshes, creating a mix of open water and vegetation that benefits ducks, wading birds, fish, and amphibians. Their lodges are used by turtles, snakes, and nesting birds. Muskrats are also important prey for minks, foxes, raptors, and other predators. See why rodents matter to ecosystems.
Family Life
Muskrats breed prolifically. In warm areas, females can have several litters a year, each with several young. Young muskrats grow quickly and may be independent within about a month. Populations can rise and fall sharply, sometimes in cycles.
Winter Life
Muskrats don’t hibernate. They stay active under the ice, traveling between lodges, burrows, and push-ups to feed and breathe. See do rodents hibernate.
Muskrats and People
Muskrat fur has long been harvested in North America and was historically one of the most commercially important furs. Muskrats can also cause problems by burrowing into earthen dams, levees, and pond banks, which can weaken them. Humane solutions include protecting banks with wire mesh and managing water levels. See humane rodent control.
In Europe, where muskrats were introduced for fur farming in the early 20th century, they became invasive in many countries and damage dikes and waterways. The Netherlands, for example, has run large-scale control programs to protect its flood defenses. See invasive rodent species.
Muskrats in Culture
In some Indigenous creation stories of North America, the muskrat is the humble animal that dives to the bottom of the waters to bring up mud from which the land is made, after larger animals fail. It’s a story about how small creatures can accomplish great things. See rodents in culture and history.
Muskrats vs Capybaras
Both are semi-aquatic rodents that love wetlands, but a capybara can weigh 30 times more than a muskrat. Capybaras are grazers of South American grasslands and live in social herds, while muskrats are mostly solitary or live in small family groups. See our rodent size comparison and capybara swimming.
How to Spot Muskrat Signs
Muskrats are most active at dawn and dusk, but you can often find their signs during the day. Look for small, dome-shaped lodges of cattails in shallow water, feeding platforms of cut stems, narrow trails through shoreline vegetation, and burrow entrances just below the waterline along banks. Clipped cattail stalks floating on the water and piles of empty mussel shells are other clues. In winter, look for small mounds of vegetation on the ice, which are push-ups.
Muskrat Predators
Mink are the muskrat’s best-known predator and are skilled at hunting them both in water and in burrows. Foxes, coyotes, raccoons, owls, hawks, eagles, snapping turtles, and large fish also take muskrats, especially young ones. High predation is balanced by the muskrat’s rapid breeding.
Where to See Muskrats
Muskrats live in almost any freshwater or brackish wetland across North America, including city parks with ponds. Visit a marsh or slow-moving stream at dawn or dusk, sit quietly, and scan the water for a small head moving steadily across the surface with a thin tail trailing behind. Binoculars help. National wildlife refuges with boardwalks through cattail marshes are especially good places to watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a muskrat a rat?
No. Muskrats are related to voles and lemmings, not true rats.
What’s the difference between a muskrat and a beaver?
Beavers are much larger with flat, paddle-shaped tails. Muskrats are smaller with thin, vertically flattened tails.
Are muskrats dangerous?
They avoid people but may bite if cornered. Don’t handle wild muskrats.
Do muskrats build dams?
No. They build lodges and burrows but not dams like beavers.