Pangolins are found in the tropical, hot and humid climate, and subtropical areas of Africa and Asia. Pangolins live in a variety of habitats, including forests, thick bush, sandy areas, and open grasslands. Some species of pangolins are arboreal, live in trees, and shelter in tree hollows. Other species live on the land and stay in burrows, holes, dug either by other animals or themselves. P…
Rodents are found in all parts of the world, including the Arctic tundra, desert, and oceanic islands. About 70 percent of all rodents are rats and mice, and these animals are found on every continent. The IUCN lists 669 species of rodents under varying degrees of threat and endangerment (facing varying risks of extinction in the wild) as of 2004. There are 32 species that are listed as Extin…
Mountain beavers are found in North America along the Pacific Coast. They live in southwestern British Columbia to northwestern California, in certain coastal areas as far south as San Francisco Bay, and in the Sierra Nevada of eastern California. Mountain beavers generally live in moist forests, especially near streams, which are dense with herbs and shrubs. They are found on mountains with …
Squirrels are found throughout the world, except in Australia, Madagascar, southern South America, and certain desert regions, such as in Egypt. Most squirrels eat primarily plant materials. Tree squirrels and flying squirrels often eat nuts and seeds, and will occasionally also feed on fungi, eggs, insects, young birds, and small snakes. Ground squirrels also eat seeds, fruits, and nuts, but…
BEAVERS: Castoridae NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER (Castor canadensis): SPECIES ACCOUNT Beavers are found in North America, northern Europe, and northern Asia. After a decrease in population, these animals have been reintroduced to Russia, Scandinavia, and Argentina. They are also found in Chile. Beavers live primarily along streams, ponds, lakes, swamps and other waterways, in areas where they c…
Pocket gophers are found in North America and extend into Central America. They are found from southern Canada through western North America, southward to northwestern Colombia in South America. One species occurs in the southeastern United States, in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Pocket gophers live in almost any area that has soil that they can dig. They are found in meadows, forests, dese…
Heteromyids are found in the western United States, southwestern Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Heteromyids live in deserts, dry grasslands, and, in a few cases, wet and dry tropical forests. Desert pocket mice and kangaroo rats like arid, dry, climates that contain sand, scrubs, sagebrush, grasses, and chaparral. Kangaroo mice prefer sandy habitats. In all cases…
The Dipodidae family is widespread throughout the world, and its species are present in North America, northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Europe, and Asia, where they are believed to have originated. Birch mice and jumping mice eat berries, fungus, nuts, fruits, and insects. Jerboas are omnivores, and eat insects, fruits, seeds, bulbs, plant parts, and even other jerboas. While the Dipod…
Rats, mice, and relatives are found throughout the world except for the extreme polar regions of Earth. Rats, mice, and relatives live in many different habitats including open flatlands, savannas (flat grasslands), grasslands, prairies, steppes (treeless plains that are often somewhat dry and grass-covered), woodlands, forests, deserts, scrublands, foothills, jungles, rainforests, wetlands, …
Scaly-tailed squirrels are native to the middle region of Africa, and live mainly south of the Sahara Desert in west, central, and east Africa. Countries in which they appear regularly are Sierra Leone, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, the Central African Republic, and Ivory Coast. Scaly-tailed squirrels prefer the open woodlands of east, central, an…
SPRINGHARE: Pedetidae Springhares can be found in Angola, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists springhares as Vulnerable, facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. This is due to the fact that their population is decreasing from poor habitat quality and hunting by humans. …
Gundis can be found in northern Africa. Gundis are herbivores (plant-eating animals) and mainly eat leaves, stalks, flowers, and plant seeds. They cannot gnaw well, so they mainly eat these softer foods. Food is usually somewhat difficult to find in their habitat, so they have to travel far to find it. Gundis do not store food or reserve fat in their bodies, so their search for nourishment is…
Dormice are found in Europe, Africa, central and western Asia, and Japan. Dormice can be found in deciduous forests, woodlands, grasslands, gardens, parks, rocky areas, or scrub areas. Within these areas, they create nests where they rest during the day. These nests are built off of the ground in holes in trees, rocky crevices, abandoned burrows, building attics, or in wedges of tree branches…
Dassie rats can be found in the Southwest Arid Zone of Africa, from southwestern Angola to the central and western parts of Namibia to the northwestern Northern Cape Province in South Africa. Dassie rats do not have any special relationship with humans. Dassie rats are not listed as threatened by The World Conservation Union (IUCN), but there is only a small population and they are not presen…
CANE RATS: Thryonomyidae GREATER CANE RAT (Thryonomys swinderianus): SPECIES ACCOUNT Both species are native to Africa, where they occupy habitats south of the Sahara Desert. They may be found everywhere in west, central, and southern Africa all the way down to the eastern Cape in South Africa. Although they look similar, the greater and lesser cane rats prefer different environments. Th…
African mole-rats are found in sub-Saharan Africa. They eat bulbs, tubers, and corms, the underground stem base of plants such as the crocus or gladiolus. Food is either eaten when it is found or brought back to a central storage area near the nest. Large food sources are often left to grow, and eaten on from time to time. African mole-rats are considered pests in farmlands and in urban devel…
Old World porcupines tend to live in the warmer habitats of southern Europe, many islands of the East Indies, across southern Asia (particularly India and the Malay Archipelago), and through all of Africa. Old World porcupines generally like to live in deep burrows, which they often dig themselves or appropriate after the former occupants leave. However, they will also live in caves, rotting …
New World porcupines are found in North, Central, and South America, from Canada and Alaska to Argentina. These porcupines live primarily in trees throughout rainforests and deciduous and coniferous woods, except for one species that lives in deserts and a few others that are found in plantations and other cultivated areas. New World porcupines eat fruits, seeds, leaves, and bark. Some New Wo…
This family of mammals occurs only in western and southern South America, but their largest populations are in southern Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, and northern Chile to the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Patagonia (Argentina). While most of the viscacha species tend to remain at elevations below 1,640 feet (500 meters), the mountain viscacha and chinchillas colonize areas from 13,120 to 1…
A South American rodent, pacaranas' sparse populations may be found in the mountainous areas of a band running through western Venezuela, western Colombia, central Ecuador, Peru, part of western Brazil, and into northwestern Bolivia. In Peru, this species occupies suitable habitat from 800 to 6,600 feet in elevation (240 to 2,000 meters), but in Venezuela they occur up to 7,870 feet (2…
Cavies are found over most of South America, except Chile and some areas of the Amazon River basin. Maras inhabit southern Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. Cavies and maras are found in a variety of habitat, depending on the species. These include marshes, tropical floodplains, rocky mountain meadows, grassland, desert, and areas with lots of trees and bushes near water, grasslands, and cultivat…
Capybaras are found on the eastern side of the Canal Zone in Panama, and on the east side of the Andes Mountains in South America, including Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, and northeastern Argentina. Capybaras live in areas of dense trees and plants near rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, and swamps. There are four areas in …
Agoutis are found from southern Mexico to southern Bolivia and northern Argentina. Their range includes Brazil, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Venezuela. They have also been introduced into the Cayman Islands. Agoutis are found throughout the forests of Central and South America, usually in areas with heavy…
Pacas are found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. Their range includes Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Pacas primarily live in tropical rainforests but are also found in a wide variety of forest habitats, including mangrove swamps, decidu…
Central and southern South America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. All species of tuco-tucos are believed to be herbivores, meaning they are plant-eaters. Their primary food sources are roots, grasses, herbs, and shrubs. Tuco-tucos are hunted for their meat by several native South American groups, including the Tehuelches and Onas. Farmers who consid…
Octodonts are found in southwest Peru, Chile, Argentina, and southwest Bolivia. The octodont habitat ranges from coastal scrub brush to barren rocky outcroppings in mountains. They are found in desert, deciduous forest, grassland, and foothills. Octodonts are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants. All but one species eat mainly at night. The degu feeds during the early morning and early ev…
They are found from coastal areas to the Andes Mountains in southern Peru, northern Chile, northwest Argentina, and central Bolivia. Chinchilla rats live in rock crevices and elaborate burrows under rocks or at the base of shrubs. Chinchilla rats are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants. The feed at night on seeds, fruits, and nuts. The Bolivian chinchilla rat is listed as Vulnerable, fac…
Spiny rats are found throughout southern Central America and northern and central South America, from southern Honduras to northern Argentina and Chile. Spiny rats are mostly herbivores, meaning they eat only plants, although some species eat insects. Their diet includes fruits, nuts, grass, and sugar cane. Several species, including rato de Taquara, eat only bamboo shoots and leaves. Several…
Hutias are found exclusively in the Caribbean, particularly Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Hutias usually live in forests, plantations, scrublands, marshy areas, and mountainous, rocky areas of rainforest. Brown's hutia, also known as the Jamaican hutia, usually lives on exposed areas of limestone in the interior of Jamaica. They build their nests in roc…
Coypus adapt well to a wide range of habitats, including rainforest, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, scrub forest, Coypus are not native to the United States, but were brought to Louisiana to raise for fur. A number escaped, and now breed in the wild. (© YVA Momatiuk and John Eastcott/Photo Researchers, Inc. Reproduced by permission.) grassland, wetland such as swamps and ma…
RABBITS PIKAS AND HARES: Lagomorpha Lagomorphs are found on every continent except Antarctica. They are native to every continent they are found on, except Australia where they were introduced. Pikas are found in two distinct habitats. Some live among rocks and rocky areas. Others live in meadows, steppes (semiarid, grass-covered plains), shrubs and desert. Hares live in arctic tundra, s…
All pikas (PEE-kuhz) are similar in appearance, being small, compact mammals with large, round ears and short front and rear legs. They resemble guinea pigs in size and appearance, ranging in length from 5 to 12 inches (12.5 to 30.0 centimeters) and weighing 3.5 to 7 ounces (100 to 200 grams). Pikas lack a noticeable tail. They have long, soft fur that is usually gray or brown, often with red…
Hares and rabbits are found on every continent except Antarctica. They are native to every continent they are found on, except Australia where they were introduced. Hares live in arctic tundra, steppes, wetlands, forests, and deserts. Rabbits live in pine and deciduous forests, desert, mountainous areas, scrubland, tropical rainforest, near rivers and streams, rocky outcroppings, grasslands, …
Sengis are found throughout Africa except western Africa and the Sahara Desert region. They are most common and diverse in southern and eastern Africa. Sengis live in deciduous forest, rainforest, grassland, and desert areas of Africa, especially where there is an abundance of water. They are found in the thick ground cover of coastal bush forests, rocky outcroppings, and highland and lowland…
