Unit X: Mammals of Kansas Information

1. Unit X: Mammals of Kansas Information

2. Introduction to Mammals • Class Mammalia • There are 88 species of mammals native to Kansas. • Mammals are covered with fur/hair and they nurse their young with milk produced by mammary glands. Males and females have these glands, but they are only functional in females.

3. Mammals cont. • Three types of mammals • Monotremes: egg-laying mammals. They are not very common at all. The platypus is an example. • Marsupials: give birth to partially-developed young that then crawl into a pouch on the mothers belly to nurse and finish development. • Placentals: mammals who are born fully developed (although need further care), and who are attached to the mother by the placenta in the uterus, which provides nutrients, oxygen and waste removal for the fetus.

4. Mammals cont. • Mammals have very specialized teeth. • Herbivores eat only plants, and they generally have large, flat teeth for grinding the plant material. • Carnivores eat only meat, and they generally have very sharp, razor-like teeth for killing and tearing the flesh of their prey. • Omnivores eat both plants and animals, and they have a combination of both types of teeth.

5. Mammals cont. • Mammals have brains larger and more complex than most other animals. • Opossums are North Americas only marsupial. Most marsupials are found in Australia. • Humans are mammals, which means we can share diseases with other mammals. We can get very sick from rodents, or even share colds with our dogs or cats.

6. Mammals, cont. • How to identify mammals: • Tracks are a great way to determine which mammals have been in the area. You can find tracks in dirt, sand, mud and snow. • If you find skulls, you can observe the teeth. There are various keys for mammal teeth that you can use to determine what species you are looking at.

7. Badger Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

8. Badger • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores • Pound for pound, they are probably the most powerful mammals in Kansas. • If threatened, they attack explosively. • Dig their dens in hillsides and road embankments, with a conspicuous dirt mound at the entrance. • Eat mostly smaller rodents such as gophers, prairie dogs, mice, rabbits and insects.

9. Beaver Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

10. Beaver

11. Beaver skull

12. Beaver • Order: Rodentia, the rodents • Largest rodent in North America. 30-60 lbs. • Builds stick and mud dams across streams or a large conical hut in water for shelter. • Tail shaped like a paddle. • Feeds on small bark and twigs from birch, poplar, maple, willow. Has very sharp teeth. • Lives in family groups.

13. Bobcat Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

14. Bobcat • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores • Weighs 15-35 lbs. • Short tail. • Prefers forest edge habitat, brushy areas. • Mostly nocturnal and solitary, very secretive. • Eats small mammals, birds, carrion if not tainted. Is the main predator for deer in eastern Kansas.

15. Eastern Cottontail

16. Eastern Cottontail • Order: Lagomorpha, rabbits and hares • Habitat is heavy brush, forest strips with open areas. • Feeds on green vegetation in summer, bark and twigs in winter. • Most important small-game mammal for human hunters.

17. Coyote

18. Coyote

19. Coyote Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

20. Coyote

21. Coyote • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores. • Weighs 20-50 lbs. • Habitat is prairie and open woodlands. • Dens in ground. • Has almost always had a bounty on it in some part of the country, although hunting has not reduced its numbers. • Very adaptable, intelligent animal. • Eats mostly rodents, an does a great service by keeping rodent population down.

22. Big Brown Bats

23. Big Brown Bat

24. Big Brown Bat • Order: Chiroptera, the bats • May be the most common bat in Kansas. • Hibernate in caves, buildings, rock crevices, mines. • May live up to 19 years in the wild • Eat primarily beetles and can eat 1/3 of their body weight in insects each night. • Hunt by echolocation, where they emit high-pitched squeaks and hear how the sound bounces off of objects and comes back to them.

25. Gray Squirrel

26. Gray Squirrel

27. Gray Squirrel • Order: Rodentia, the rodents • They are found in the eastern quarter of Kansas, in Oak-Hickory forest and in towns with oak trees. • Build nests out of leaves. • Often seen leaping from tree to tree or resting on the tree branches.

28. Fox Squirrel

29. Fox Squirrel

30. Fox Squirrel • Order: Rodentia, the rodents • Bushy, fox-like tails that have orange fringe and reddish-orange fur. • Larger than Gray Squirrels and spend more time on the ground • Builds nests out of leaves. • Common in oak-hickory woodlands, wooded parks and neighborhoods throughout Kansas.

31. Black-tailed Prairie Dog

32. Black-tailed Prairie Dog

33. Black-tailed Prairie Dog

34. Black-tailed Prairie Dog • Order: Rodentia, the rodents • Live in the western half of Kansas, on the High Plains • Known for their “barks” when the lookouts spot danger. • Live in complex network of burrows called “towns”. • Often they are poisoned out by landowners, but they provide critical habitat for many High Plains animals, such as spiders, salamanders, toads, box turtles, snakes and especially burrowing owls.

35. Mink Taxidermy mount at Prairie Park Nature Center Mink running video from Ken Highfill

36. Mink • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores • Small, weasel-like mammal. • Lives near streams and rivers. • Usually dark brown with a white chin-patch that can be hard to see. • Very common. • Feeds on fish, small mammals, birds, eggs, frogs, crayfish. • One of the most valuable fur animals.

37. Muskrat

38. Muskrat

39. Muskrat • Order: Rodentia, the rodents • Tail long and thin, naked like a rat. • Lives in streams and ponds, wetlands. • Much smaller than beaver. • 2-4 lbs. • Builds conical houses out of marsh vegetation. • Eats aquatic plants. • Fur extremely soft, thick and waterproof if maintained.

40. Virginia Opossum

41. Opossum • Order: Didelphimorphia, the opossums • The only marsupial in North America. • Has more teeth than any other Kansas mammal: 50! • Have prehensile tail that they use to grasp branches for balance (they do NOT hang upside down from their tails). • Female bears housefly-sized young that crawl across her belly and into the pouch and attach to a nipple, where they finish their development for the next two months. • The term “playing possum” refers to the opossums habit of freezing and/or passing out when startled, such as by a car, which is why so many get hit on the roads. • Opossums are currently being studied for the fact that they do not seem to carry the rabies virus.

42. Raccoon Taxidermy mount at Prairie Park Nature Center

43. Raccoon • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores. • 12-35 lbs. Size of small-med dog. • Very intelligent and inquisitive. • Feeds mostly along streams and lakes, omnivorous, prefers crawdads, eggs, insects, fruits. • Extremely sensitive hands—touches and feels things. • Very cute when young, but once they hit puberty, they will defend territory. Do NOT make good pets—illegal to keep. • 80% of raccoons in Kansas carry some type of communicable disease.

44. Red Fox

45. Red Fox Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

46. Red Fox • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores. • Has the appearance of a small dog. • Forest and open country is preferred. • Eats other animals from insects to rabbits, and berries and fruit. • Usually have more than one den and moves pups around. • Have a bounty on them in much of their range, but it should be removed as they do more good than harm overall.

47. Striped Skunk Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

48. Striped Skunk Taxidermy mount at KU Natural History Museum

49. Striped Skunk • Order: Carnivora, the carnivores • Scent glands located near base of tail. • Size of house cat. • Lives in semi-open country, prairie and brush. • Omnivorous: east grubs, berries, mice, eggs, insects, carrion. • Does not hibernate, is active all winter.

50. White-footed Mouse