Camera Critters: Muskrat

A Muskrat hurries back to the safety of the water carrying a huge bundle of food

Muskrats are hesitant to leave the protection of the water and when they do they make each trip count. This bundle of reeds will be carried into the den for later dining.

I hope you all have enjoyed the muskrat photographs I have been posting. Some of you have commented upon pond owners despising the little critter. Muskrats in a natural habitat create very little problem, but a man-made pond is a totally different matter.

Ponds are created in places where water would not normally pool. The basin is typically sealed with a layer of clay which keeps the water from seeping into the soil. When a muskrat digs its burrow through the clay layer the pond begins to leak. A colony of muskrats can destroy a good size pond in fairly short order.

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