All about mammals in Iowa.

1. Iowa’s furbearing mammals

2. Iowa’s smallest furbearing mammal is the masked shrew

3. Iowa’s furbearing mammals
Masked shrews have really pointed noses.

4. Masked shrews eat bugs and worms and even mice.

5. Short-tailed shrews are slightly larger cousins. Shrews
need to eat twice their body weight every day to survive

6. grasshopperGrasshoppers would be a good crunchy summer food
choice for a hungry short-tailed shrew

7. This white-footed mouse would be attacked by shrews
in the winter

8. White-footed mice feast on high carbohydrate seeds,
like this Virginia wild rye, out in the woods.
White-footed mice
feast on high
carbohydrate
seeds, like this
Virginia wild rye,
out in the woods.

9. White-footed mice, and their doll-eyed deer mouse
cousins, store those seeds in hollow trees for winter

10. Big brown bats look a lot like mice, but with wings

11. Big brown bats have wings that open about a foot wide.

12. Big brown bats gobble up to 500 mosquitoes an hour at
night during the summer.

13. Big brown bats also help control European corn
borer moths

14. Big brown bats are the only Iowa bats that sometimes
sneak into houses and stay to hibernate in winter.

15. Big brown bats can wake up
and look for water if the attic
gets too warm, giving us a
scary surprise.
Big brown bats can wake up
and look for water if the attic
gets too warm, giving us a
scary surprise.

16. The little brown myotis (bat) has a wingspan of about
ten inches and also hunts for bugs, often over ponds
and lakes, in the summer.

17. Little brown bats normally summer and winter in caves.

18. Little brown bats
cluster for comfort in
caves during the winter
White nose syndrome
could someday wipe
them out

19. These domed bare dirt mounds show us where a pocket
gopher colony lives. Pocket gophers make many
connected tunnels about two feet below the soil
surface, like a subway system.
These domed bare dirt mounds show us where a pocket
gopher colony lives. Pocket gophers make many
connected tunnels about two feet below the soil surface,
like a subway system.

20. Pocket gopherHere’s a rare look at a nearsighted pocket gopher
pushing some dirt up to make another new mound

21. Pocket gophers like to eat plant roots, such as
burdock, that grow down into their tunnels.

22. Pocket gopher have little “pockets” below their cheeks.
Notice those handy full-sized digging claws

23. Eastern moles have big digging claws too

24. Eastern moles have a very velvety fur that lets
them push their way through the soft sod. They
have even poorer eyesight than pocket gophers.

25. Eastern moles are meat-eaters and key in on burrowed
worms.

26. Eastern
moles felt-
like fur
feels super-
soft

27. Here’s a muff made from mole fur

28. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels are sometimes called
streaked gophers. Guess how many stripes they sport
on their short fur coats.

29. Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrels .Thirteen-lined ground squirrels like to live in short grass areas such as
pastures and cemeteries where they stand up straight and earn the slang
name pasture peg. They eat the tender new grass growth in summer .

30. Thirteen-lined
ground squirrels
retreat underground
and truly hibernate
from November to
March, going into a
long deep sleep.

31. Eastern chipmunks are the woodland counterpart to
those open-country “streaked gophers”. Eastern
chipmunks only have two white stripes on their brown
backs.

32. Eastern chipmunks chow down on acorns in autumn,
hauling huge bunches back to store in their pantries

33. Tree stump holes make good homes and pantries for
eastern chipmunks. They will scamper across the snow
on warm sunny winter days, searching for some fresh
nuts to munch on.

34. Woodland habitat with some mature oak trees is very
attractive to many animals

35. Acorns are a nutritious “superfood” for many critters.

36. Flying squirrels are small and cute and about the size of a
chipmunk

37. Flying squirrels can glide through the air for a hundred
yards or more if taking off high in a tree on a hilltop.

38. Flying squirrels are nocturnal and search for acorns or
other favored foods like birdseed at night.

39. Gray squirrelGray squirrels are the most common squirrel in our area,
found in town and out in the forest

40. Gray squirrels & fox squirrels can hunted be for food

41. Fried squirrel
makes a fine
main dish for
supper.

42. Save those squirrel tails for some extra spending cash

43. Mepps buys squirrel tails from hunters for a quarter apiece to
dress their fishing spinners

44. Shagbark hickory trees could be called squirrel magnets
out in the timber.

45. Shagbark hickory nuts taste like filet mignon to
feasting squirrels looking to fatten up for winter

46. Fox squirrels are a bit bigger than gray squirrels. With orange
fur, they’re sometimes called red squirrels

47. Real red squirrels are barely bigger than chipmunks. Rare in
Iowa, they’re also called “chickarees”.

48. Cottontail (rabbit)
Cottontail (rabbits) are cute common critters hopping
around in Iowa woodlands

49. Cottontails like to hide in dense tangled bramble
thickets where fox and owls can’t catch them easily

50. In the rabbit world, cottontails have relatively short
ears
In the rabbit
world, cottontails
have relatively
short ears

51. White-tailed jackrabbits are very
rare today in Iowa. Notice the long
ears and legs.

52. White-tailed jackrabbits went the way of the magnificent prairie where
they lived, which once covered most of Iowa, but is missing today.

53. White-tailed jackrabbits wear a white fur coat when
wintertime comes as a fine camouflage

54. Hasenpfeffer is a popular rabbit stew

55. Soft fluffy
rabbit fur is
sometimes
used to make
a warm glove
or mitten
lining.

56. The long-tailed weasel, shown here in summer coat, is one of
three Iowa weasel species.

57. All three weasels live out in the woods where they hunt for
mice and birds. Being curious, they love to crawl around in
hollow trees.
All three weasels live
out in the woods where
they hunt for mice and
birds.
Being curious, they love
to crawl around in
hollow trees.

58. Least weasel – summer coatHere’s a least weasel, our smallest, also shown in summer coat

59. Long-tailed weasel – winter coatLeast weasel – winter coat. When weasels turn white,
they’re called “ermine” for that different color phase of
their fur pelts
Least weasel – winter coat. When weasels turn white, they’re
called “ermine” for that different color phase of their fur pelts

60. Short-tailed weasel with a kill. Note the black tail tip, which
least weasels lack.

61. Short-tailed weasel skins sewn on Native American Indian
war shirt.

62. Mink are bigger cousins in the weasel family. They
stay all brown all year long.

63. Mink like to poke around country creeks looking for their
food.

64. Leopard
frog
This green frog would be a
good mink food.

65. Mink are famous for their luxurious chocolate-brown-colored
fur coats

66. Fancy mink fur coat.

67. River otters look like overgrown mink

68. River otters roam around the banks of our rural Iowa rivers.

69. River otters build their dens in bank rootballs.

70. River otters are excellent swimmers, and with that
streamlined shape they can easily catch foods like live
fish.

71. Bluegills rank high on a river otter’s dinner list.

72. River otters sometimes have food fights.

73. River otters stay active all year long, often spending free time
sledding down steep snow-covered slopes on their slippery
bellies.

74. River otter release site at Sweet Marsh.

75. River otter fur coat

76. Muskrats are brown rabbit-sized marsh-dwelling rodents.

77. Muskrats make small domed huts from cut cattail stems out in
the marsh.

78. Muskrats dine on tender green growth in the marsh.

79. Muskrats have a fine thick soft fur for staying warm as they
swim underwater in the winter.

80. Muskrat fur is used
for dubbing
material to make
realistic trout flies

81. Muskrat fur-bodied trout fly

82. Muskrat fur is also
used to make warm
winter hats

83. By the way, muskrats have a skinny rat-like tail

84. In contrast, beavers have a big wide paddle-like tail that they
slap on the water when scared

85. Beavers also
have big
front teeth,
and adults
can weigh up
to 80 pounds

86. Beavers put those sharp teeth to good use, cutting down and
chewing on shoreline trees

87. Classic beaver-cut tree.

88. Beavers eat the smaller tender twigs and take the bigger
branches back to make their lodges and dams

89. Beaver lodges are made with logs and mud and might be eight
feet high.

90. Beavers are renowned for their dam-building skills

91. Beavers have a heavy-duty durable warm thick fur.

92. Beaver fur
coat
Demand for
beaver pelts
taken to
make hats
fancied by
rich
Europeans
opened up
the American
Frontier

93. Classic beaver-felt fur hat

94. Roast that fatty beaver tail for a real rich meat treat.

95. Abandoned farm buildings are attractive to several familiar
animals.

96. The woodchuck is also called a groundhog.

97. The woodchuck (groundhog) likes to chow down on tender
plant tips during spring, summer and fall.

98. The woodchuck (or groundhog) likes to live around old
stone walls and is also called a “whistle-pig”
The woodchuck (or groundhog)
likes to live around old stone walls
and is also called a “whistle-pig”.

99. When cold weather comes in October, woodchucks
retreat to underground burrows and hibernate til March

100. Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog, as
seen predicting winter on February 2.

101. After a rain, fresh tracks in the mud around an old farm can
tell us who else is living there.

102. Raccoons often take up residence around deserted farm
buildings, where they find easy food to eat
Raccoons often take up residence around deserted farm
buildings, where they find easy food to eat

103. Raccoons are famous for being mischievous.

104. Raccoons like to ransack the countryside after dark. This
would be a good night to go coon hunting with hounds in
November.

105. Bandit raccoons often seek
shelter in hollow trees

106. When winter comes, raccoons often den up in small
cozy underground caves.

107. Raccoons have a fairly long coarse fur coatRaccoons have a fairly long coarse fur coat.

108. Raccoon fur coat for sale

109. Old-timers rave about roast raccoon.

110. Opossums are rather homely mammals that like to live
around human habitations.

111. Opossums are marsupials, related to kangaroos. Babies
live in mother’s pouch for several weeks after birth.

112. Young opossums finally get to big too fit in mother’s
pouch, so they ride around on her back instead.

113. Opossums’ claim to fame is playing dead when scared

114. Opossum
Opossums hate winter but still stay awake and
suffer through the cold season

115. Some people claim that opossums are excellent eating

116. Anybody
up for
possum
pot pie?

117. Opossum fur
doesn’t feel real
thick and not worth
nearly as much as a
mink.

118. Opossum fur might be
used to make a pillow
fringe, but not much
else

119. Striped skunks have a very recognizable fur coat

120. Striped skunkStriped skunks
search through
ditches and fields
for bird eggs,
baby mice,
caterpillars,
worms and
fleshy bugs

121. Striped skunks raise their tails in a defensive posture
before releasing that stinky spray.

122. Believe it or not, but striped skunk scent is used in
many perfumes, as a base to hold the better smells we
buy to spray on our skin.

123. How about
buying a striped
skunk fur coat?

124. Spotted skunkSpotted skunks are very rare in Iowa. Notice the full-body
striping or spotting pattern
Spotted skunks are very rare in Iowa. Notice the full-body
striping or spotting pattern.

125. Spotted skunks like to live around and under field rock piles,
foraging for nearby bird eggs and bugs.

126. Spotted skunk are also called civet cats or pole cats and
can certainly spray.
Spotted skunks are also called civet cats or polecats.

127. Just like striped skunks, spotted skunks can certainly spray!

128. The badger has some white striping on its face, but is
definitely not a skunk species.

129. Badgers are big diggers with belligerent attitudes and are best
avoided if encountered. They hunt gophers.

130. Badgers have a fur with long coarse hoary guard hairs.

131. Badger fur is found
mostly in old-
fashioned shaving
brushes

132. The gray fox roams through our woodlands looking for
rabbits and squirrels to eat. Not common by any means

133. Gray fox can
climb trees just
like a house cat.

134. This big old hollow oak log might be a gray fox home for the
summer.

135. Gray fox can give a pretty cool call.

136. Gray fox go hunting year-round.

137. Gray fox fur
coat

138. Red fox are more colorful than their drab gray cousins

139. Red fox like to live out in grassy open pastures and hayfields
where they are super mousers.

140. Red fox dig dens down in dirt banks.

141. Red fox kit peeking out of its den.

142. Red fox hunting for a meadow vole.

143. Red fox pouncing on a meadow vole.

144. Red fox dining on a meadow vole.

145. Meadow voles are red fox favorite foods.

146. Red fox hunt field mice and meadow voles all year long

147. Red fox running down a deer mouse.

148. Red fox have a rather haunting call.

149. Red fox makes a very
desirable fur coat

150. CoyoteThe coyote is Iowa’s largest wild dog, with a drab
brownish gray fur coat
The coyote is Iowa’s largest wild dog, with a drab
brownish gray fur coat

151. Coyotes are up and actively hunting every day, even in winter.

152. Coyotes travel through fields and along forest edges looking
for food – rodents, rabbits and pheasants.

153. This cottontail has to be on the lookout for coyotes.

154. Coyotes form family packs for big game hunting.

155. This coyote pack has downed a white-tailed deer.

156. Coyotes are known for their crazy yapping howls

157. Coyote fur
coats keep
their wearers
plenty warm.

158. Bobcats are a rare sight
here in Iowa.
Bobcats are a rare
sight here in Iowa.

159. Bobcats live in remote bluff country where they den in
limestone cliffs.

160. BobcatBobcats
sneak
through the
woods
hunting for
mice or
rabbits or
birds like
the ruffed
grouse
Bobcats
sneak
through the
woods
hunting for
mice or
rabbits or
birds like
the ruffed
grouse

161. Ruffed grouse look like a wild woodland chicken.

162. Bobcats don’t seem to mind the cold winter snow.

163. Bobcat coats look
pretty classy.

164. White-tailed deer are Iowa’s largest fur bearing animals.
Bucks give a low grunting call.

165. White-tailed deer prefer to hide in brushy areas, feeding on tree
leaves, twigs and yard flowers at night.

166. White-tailed deer are always out and about. Does bleat like a
sheep.

167. White-tailed deer does make a mighty-fine tasting tender
venison roast.

168. White-tailed
deer hides
were once
tanned to
make warm
durable
leather
clothing.
Leather and
fur from Iowa
furbearers is
a fine
functional
and
renewable
resource for
future use.