Read Owls Aren't Wise and Bats Aren't Blind for Free Online Page B

without warning, it accelerated and charged straight at us at top speed.
    Astounded by this turn of events, I failed to react in time. Heidi, curious about this strange creature, lowered her head, and the onrushing muskrat bit the unfortunate dog savagely on the end of the nose! Blood, which always looks far worse on snow, seemed to fly everywhere, while the muskrat turned and fled in the direction it had come from. Because I had to attend to Heidi’s wounded nose, we never did learn what became of the muskrat.
    What was a muskrat doing at that time of year, exposing itself to danger in open, snow-covered fields? There was no rabies in Vermont at the time, so any suspicion of a rabid animal can be eliminated. No doubt the peripatetic muskrat had either been forced to seek a new food supply or was heeding the siren call of the mating season. At any rate, it provided a thoroughly memorable experience, albeit a most unpleasant one for the unhappy Heidi!
    As befits their semiaquatic status, muskrats have a full complement of adaptations to equip them for life in the water. Like beavers, muskrats are notable divers without benefit of outsized lungs. With the same sort of adaptations possessed by beavers, they can easily spend ten minutes underwater, and longer dives of up to fifteen minutes are by no means unknown. One biologist saw a muskrat dive and remain submerged for an astounding seventeen minutes, come to the surface for just three seconds, and then dive for another ten minutes!
    The muskrat has other useful adaptations as well. Its hind feet are partially webbed to provide efficient paddles for easy movement in the water, while its long tail acts as a rudder. On occasion, this tail can present a rather comical appearance: when the muskrat is floating at rest, it sometimes angles its tail upward, completely out of water. There, unsupported, it forms a shallow curve, first upward and then, farther back, gradually drooping toward the surface.
    Meanwhile, the muskrat’s admirable fur coat protects its owner against the effects of even the most frigid water. Although muskrat fur isn’t quite as highly prized as that of the beaver, it’s nonetheless very handsome. Beneath the long, dark brown, glossy outer guard hairs lies a dense coat of fine, soft, grayish underfur, designed to keep water away from the muskrat’s skin.
    Because of the high quality of their pelts, muskrats have long been a staple of the fur trade in North America. In Wisconsin, for example, the value of muskrat pelts from 1970 to 1981 exceeded $33 million. Despite being both extensively and intensively trapped each year, however, the muskrat has remained abundant down through the years and continues to thrive. This is due to a combination of the muskrat’s adaptability and its exceptional reproductive capacity, which is far more like that of the vole than the beaver.
    For an animal of its size—two to four pounds—the muskrat has a remarkably short gestation period, lasting a little less than a month. Further, it has at least two litters annually, often three, and sometimes as many as four, with most litters consisting of four to eight young. Add the fact that a female muskrat can breed as early as eight months, and the biological potential of a pair of muskrats, if completely unchecked, is astronomical!
    Obviously, many influences restrain the growth of muskrat populations: otherwise we’d be knee-deep in muskrats. Disease, parasites, injuries, and predators all take a toll. Humans are now a major predator of muskrats, but mink are also an important natural enemy. Thoroughly at home in the water, mink often enter muskrat houses in search of a meal. There, despite being much smaller than an adult muskrat, these fierce little predators quickly do away with the occupants and dine in style. Otters, too, even swifter and more at home in the water than mink, sometimes prey on muskrats.
    Other predators also abound, though they mostly prey on young muskrats.