 Muskrat Aquatic North American rodent sometimes called musquash. The common muskrat (Ondatra) has a very dense gray underfur with shiny guard hairs of black, brown, or rust. Including the long, scaly flat in the tail it is from 17 to 25 in. long. It has webbed and hind feet. It to habitats quiet streams, marshes, and ponds where it eats vegetation and some aquatic animals.
It builds a home in a steep bank along the water line but enters through an under water entrance and tunnel, or in a hut similar to that a beavers lodge . The fur is much used , chiefly for women's coats ; when dyed black it is sold as Hudson seal dried muskrat . The dark flesh is marketed as the marsh rabbit , marsh hair , and a terrapin. The secretion of the musk glands is used in making perfume period when it was introduced into Europe, the muskrats became a serious pest. |
