AnAge entry for Ondatra zibethicus
Classification (HAGRID: 02909)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Genus: Ondatra
- Species
- Ondatra zibethicus
- Common name
- Muskrat
- Synonyms
- Castor zibethicus, Ondatra americana, Fiber zibethicus nigra, Fiber zibethicus maculosa, Fiber zibethicus varius, Fiber zibethicus niger, Ondatra zibethicus zibethicus, Fiber macrodon, Fiber obscurus, Fiber occipitalis, Fiber osoyoosensis, Fiber spatulatus, Fiber zibethicus albus, Fiber zibethicus aquilonius, Ondatra zibethica bernardi, Fiber zibethicus cinnamominus, Fiber zibethicus hudsonius, Ondatra zibethica goldmani, Fiber zibethicus mergens, Fiber zibethicus pallidus, Fiber zibethicus ripensis, Fiber zibethicus rivalicius, Fiber zibethicus zalophus, Ondatra zibethicus ripensis
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- Not yet established
- Observations
There are conflicting reports about the longevity of the muskrat. In the wild, these animals live about 3 years. It has been suggested that they live up to 10 years in captivity [0434]. While this is plausible, it has not been confirmed. One specimen lived 5.8 years in captivity [0671]. More studies are necessary to better estimate the longevity of the muskrat.
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 285 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 285 days
- Gestation
- 26 days
- Weaning
- 25 days
- Litter size
- 6.7 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 2.7
- Inter-litter interval
- 30 days
- Weight at birth
- 22.72 g
- Weight at weaning
- 152.1 g
- Adult weight
- 1,362 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- 0.0323 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- 311ºK or 37.4ºC or 99.3ºF
- Basal metabolic rate
- 4.3630 W
- Body mass
- 976.3 g
- Metabolic rate per body mass
- 0.004469 W/g
References
- [0776] Seluanov et al. (2007), Telomerase activity coevolves with body mass not lifespan (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
- [0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3 (PubMed)
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0441] William Burt et al. (1998), A Field Guide to Mammals
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0680] Wootton (1987), The effects of body mass, phylogeny, habitat, and trophic level on mammalian age at first reproduction
- [0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180318
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account (if available)
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 10060
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google