Muskrat

Ondatra zibethicus (Linnaeus, 1766)

The muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is a rodent in the family Cricetidae and subfamily Arvicolinae, within the order Rodentia of the class Mammalia. It is a medium-sized mammal with an adult body mass of 1.066 kg, and it is a nocturnal, terrestrial herbivore.

Photo: David Menke · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the muskrat

After a gestation period of 28 days, females have litters of 6.4 young, with 2.6 litters per year, and reach sexual maturity at 175 days. The muskrat has a lifespan of 10 years and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

Weight: 998 g – 1.07 kgsrc for Weight
Length: 20 cm – 35 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan: 10 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Herbivoresrc for Diet
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: wetlandsrc for Habitat
Gestation: 27.8 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch: 6.42src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 5.73 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 2.56src for Litters or clutches a year
Active: At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle: Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the muskrat?

At 35 cm, the recorded maximum length of the muskrat is about 21% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the muskrat

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) — Cephas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the muskrat live?

Not recorded

What is the muskrat?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The muskrat or common muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent.
Adult muskrats weigh 0.6–2 kg (1+1⁄4–4+1⁄2 lb), with a body length (excluding the tail) of 20–35 cm (8–14 in). They are covered with short, thick fur of medium to dark brown color. Their long tails, covered with scales rather than hair, are laterally compressed and generate a small amount of thrust, with their webbed hind feet being the main means of propulsion and the unique tail mainly important in directional stability. Muskrats spend most of their time in the water and can swim underwater for 12 to 17 minutes. They live in families of a male and female pair and their young. They build nests to protect themselves from the cold and predators, often burrowed into the bank with an underwater entrance. Muskrats feed mostly on cattail and other aquatic vegetation but also eat small animals.
Ondatra zibethicus is the only extant species in the genus Ondatra; its closest relative is the round-tailed muskrat (Neofiber alleni). It is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings.
The species is native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Eurasia and South America. The muskrat is found in various wetlands and has crucial effects on their ecology. It is also a resource of food and fur for humans.

From the Wikipedia article “Muskrat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muskrat&oldid=1378888273), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the muskrat endangered?

The muskrat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the muskrat classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classMammalia
orderRodentia
familyCricetidae
genusOndatra
SpeciesOndatra zibethicus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Synonyms Castor zibethicus, Fiber macrodon, Fiber obscurus, Fiber occipitalis, Fiber osoyoosensis, Fiber spatulatus, Fiber zibethicus, Fiber zibethicus albus, Fiber zibethicus aquilonius, Fiber zibethicus cinnamominus, Fiber zibethicus hudsonius, Fiber zibethicus maculosa, Fiber zibethicus mergens, Fiber zibethicus niger, Fiber zibethicus nigra, Fiber zibethicus pallidus, Fiber zibethicus ripensis, Fiber zibethicus rivalicius, Fiber zibethicus varius, Fiber zibethicus zalophus, Ondatra americana, Ondatra zibethica bernardi, Ondatra zibethica goldmani, Ondatra zibethicus ripensis, Ondatra zibethicus zibethicus

Other names and names in other languages (64)

Common muskratEnglish
Common muskratEnglish
MuscratEnglish
Musk-beaverEnglish
Musk-ratEnglish
MuskbeaverEnglish
MusquashEnglish
MuskusrotAfrikaans
ChissichobaAlabama
فأر المسكArabic
Müşk siçovuluAzerbaijani
АндатраBelarusian
Rata mesqueraCatalan
ᏎᎵᎦᏍᏉCherokee
BisamrotteDanish
SumpfhaseGerman
BisambiberGerman
BisamratteGerman
MoschusratteGerman
SumpfkaninchenGerman
WasserkaninchenGerman
ZibetratteGerman
ZwergbiberGerman
AbuopDinka
ΜοσχοποντικόςGreek
Rata almizcleraSpanish
Arratoi musketadunBasque
piisamiFinnish
rat musquéFrench
BiisamNorthern Frisian
MuskusrôtWestern Frisian
MuscfhrancachIrish
אונדטרהHebrew
Bizamski štakorCroatian
PézsmapocokHungarian
KivgalukInupiaq
Topo muschiatoItalian
マスクラットJapanese
Ӑнтатрkca
ОндатрKazakh
사향쥐Korean
bizamžurkaLatvian
Anó:kienMohawk
ue-cesseMuscogee
BisamratDutch
MuskusratDutch
wazhashkOjibwa
piżmak amerykańskiPolish
Rato-almiscaradoPortuguese
BizamRomanian
OndatraRussian
Мускусная крысаRussian
bisámroahttuNorthern Sami
Jinodaga’Seneca
ondatra pižmováSlovak
PižmovkaSlovenian
Бизамски пацовSerbian
bisamSwedish
bisamråttaSwedish
Misk SıçanıTurkish
ОндатраUkrainian
Chuột xạ hươngVietnamese
bá∙mušWasho
麝鼠Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the muskrat

Other species in the same family Cricetidae.

European water vole

Arvicola amphibius

Cricetidae

European hamster

Cricetus cricetus

Cricetidae

Common vole

Microtus arvalis

Cricetidae

Bank vole

Myodes glareolus

Cricetidae

Golden hamster

Mesocricetus auratus

Cricetidae

Winter white dwarf hamster

Phodopus sungorus

Cricetidae

CompareMuskrat vs European water vole Muskrat vs European hamster Muskrat vs Common vole Muskrat vs Bank vole

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is a muskrat?

The muskrat is a rodent, a mammal in the order Rodentia and the family Cricetidae.

How heavy is a muskrat?

An adult Muskrat has a body mass of 1.066 kg, placing it in the medium size class.

What does a muskrat eat?

The muskrat is a herbivore.

Is the muskrat endangered?

No. The muskrat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does a muskrat live?

The muskrat has a lifespan of 10 years.

How many young does a muskrat have?

A muskrat has 6.4 young per litter and 2.6 litters per year, after a gestation period of 28 days.

What are other names for the muskrat?

Other English names for the muskrat are Muscrat, Musquash, Musk-rat, Muskbeaver and Musk-beaver.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/muskrat

MLA

“Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/muskrat.

BibTeX

@misc{muskrat_2026,
  title = {Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/muskrat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}