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Mammals. Compiled by Yvette Boulier. Peter’s Ghost-Faced Bat Mormoops megalophylla.
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Mammals Compiled byYvette Boulier
Peter’s Ghost-Faced Bat Mormoopsmegalophylla The genus Mermoops has only 2 species, one of which, Peter’s ghost-faced bat, lives in the Sonoran Desert. These bats have leaf-like folds and flaps on their faces, forming virtual megaphones, to help amplify and direct their high- frequency echolocation calls. These are medium-sized bats with wingspans of about 14 1/2 inches. Ghost-faced bats live where winters are not very cold. They appear to remain active year-round, neither hibernating nor migrating. Very little is known about their current distribution and habitat requirements, and much more study of their life history is needed. .
Lesser Long-nosed Bat Leptonycteriscurasoae • Lesser long-nosed bats follow the flowering of cardón, organ pipe cactus, and saguaro north through the desert in the late spring. Then they shift to feeding on agaves at higher elevations during the summer, returning to southern Sonora by fall. The lesser long-nosed bat assembles in day roosts of hundreds or thousands in caves and mines. The lesser long-nosed bat does not have a tail.
Mexican Long-tongued Bat Choeronycterismexicana The Mexican long-tongued bat has a tiny tail, less than 1/5 inch. The Mexican long-tongued bat is less common in the desert. Its primary habitat is at higher elevations; migrating following the flowering of chiropterophilous plants. It roosts in small numbers, frequently at entrances to caves and mines.
Vesper Bats California myotis Myotiscalifornicus Fish-eating bat- Myotisvivesi Spotted bat Eudermamaculatum Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinustownsendii) Pallid bat- Antrozouspallidus Yuma Myotis Myotisyumanensis Western pipistrelle Pipistrellushesperus Big brown bat Eptesicusfuscus
Vesper Bats • Vesper bats make up the largest family of bats, and the second largest family of mammals. Plain faces with simple noses largely devoid of flaps or folds. Their ears are variable in length. These bats live in many habitats and use every imaginable kind of roost. Species from this family are most numerous in temperate regions where the bats survive cold, snowy winters when few insects are available by hibernating deep within caves or mines that offer stable temperatures above freezing. Some hibernating species spend up to 8 months of the year sleeping underground. • Vesper bats are also among the most colorful bats, with fur that ranges from solid reds, browns, yellows, and grays to multicolored, spotted and painted. The most colorful bats are those that roost in tree foliage or cliff crevices where their markings help them blend into their surroundings. The evening bats are insectivorous, with the exception of fish-eating bats. They all use echolocation to find their prey—even the fish-eating bat. Echolocation involves emitting ultrasonic sounds (generally frequencies of 20,000 to 80,000 Hz) from the voice box and listening for the echoes that bounce off objects in the environment; they can determine size, shape, direction of travel and even texture of its prey from this echo information. Hibernation allows bats to survive long winters when insect prey is not readily available. While a bat hibernates, its body temperature drops to that of its surroundings and its metabolism becomes a mere fraction of its active rate.
Coyote Canislatrans A coyote resembles a medium-sized dog with a long, bushy black-tipped tail, big ears, and a pointy face. The fur color varies from grayish to light brown, with a buffy or white underbelly. Coyotes are mostly social animals, living in small family groups. Within the larger hunting area of a coyote family is a central core area where the den sites are located. This area is scent-marked and defended. It can survive eating anything from saguaro fruit to roadkills, and is able to live in any habitat from cactus forest to the city. The coyote is not only intelligent, curious and playful, it has very keen senses that adapt it for survival.
Gray Fox Urocyoncinerreoargenteus • The gray fox is the quiet, going about its nocturnal hunting without attracting as much attention as does the coyote. This fox doesn’t dig as much as coyotes do, but it is our only canid that regularly climbs trees. It hunts in and sometimes sleeps in trees, and has even been seen napping in the arms of a saguaro. The gray fox can be distinguished from the coyote by its smaller size. The gray fox has a grayish coat with rufous-colored hairs on the ears, neck, legs, and underside. A black stripe runs along the top of its long, bushy, black-tipped tail.
Kit Fox Vulpesmacrotis • Kit foxes only get the size of a house cat. It has a large, bushy black-tipped tail, and is otherwise buff-colored, and stands about a foot tall at the shoulder. It has large ears and a very narrow, pointy muzzle. Kit Foxes can survive without free water, gaining what they need from the blood and moisture in their prey, and so can live in the most arid areas. They are the only canines to use dens year-round. • The Coyote, Grey Fox, and Kit Fox are omnivores, eating anything from road-killed carrion to cactus fruit, mesquite beans, seeds, plants, and meat.
Procyonids:Raccoons, Ringtails & Coatis Among the most unusual, most handsomely marked, and least known of our desert animals are the procyonids—the raccoon, ringtail, and coatimundi. All three species are omnivores. The raccoon feeds on small mammals, carrion, fruit and nuts, insects, eggs, fish and aquatic insects. The ringtail favors a diet of rodents, fruit, birds, snakes, lizards, and insects. The coati eats a lot of grubs, beetles, and other invertebrates, and also fruits and nuts, rodents, eggs, snakes, lizards, and carrion. Raccoons use their front paws to feel for food items in murky water or leaf litter. • Ringtails inspect likely niches and hiding spots in their rocky habitats, hunting for rodents, birds, centipedes, and anything else edible. They are excellent mousers, pouncing and killing with a bite to the back of the rodent’s neck. • Coatis dig in the soil and leaf litter using their long claws or their noses to turn up grubs, worms, or other invertebrates. They also turn over large rocks with their front paws to search for invertebrates, lizards, and snakes. • .
RacoonProcyonlotor Many are surprised to learn that the raccoon does quite well in the Sonoran Desert, as long as there is water somewhere nearby. A heavy-bodied animal of about 10 to 30 pounds with a black face mask edged in white and a bushy, ringed tail. The hind foot is plantigrade (that is, the sole is walked on, as with humans). Raccoons are nocturnal and usually solitary, unless they congregate at man-made food sources such as picnic areas or campgrounds. They prefer brushy, thickly vegetated habitats, but adapt very well to the many artificial ponds, lakes, and wetlands. They can eat almost anything; their dexterous paws can easily open garbage cans, so they can readily take advantage of discarded food.
Ringtail Bassariscusastutus • Ringtails are strictly nocturnal animals, using their large eyes and keen sense of smell to locate prey. They are excellent climbers and leapers, using their long tails for balance as they negotiate steep canyon walls or trees with equal ease. The ringtails have semi-retractable claws and can rotate their hind feet 180 degrees, allowing them to descend cliffs face first. They den in niches in rock walls, boulder piles, or hollow trees. Ringtails are solitary, only pairing up for a few days of mating. Though fierce little fighters, ringtails fall prey to great horned owls, bobcats, and coyotes. When frightened, they emit a musky odor from scent glands.
Coati or CoatimundiNasuanasua • Coatis are very social animals, living in bands of up to 20 or even 30 or more. The bands consist of females and their young. Adult males are not welcome, except during mating season, although lone males may follow a group at other times. A pregnant female leaves the group to deliver her 4 to 6 babies, rejoining the group several weeks later with her new offspring. • Coatis are diurnal, active mostly in the morning and late afternoon, then spending the night in trees or caves. As coatis forage through an area they travel with their 2 foot long tails held vertically. • The coati is a curious-looking beast, longer than a raccoon (though not as husky in the body), with a long nose and a facial mask. Its very long tail is not as distinctly ringed as are those of the raccoon and ringtail.
Mustelids Badger Taxideataxus Hooded Skunk Mephitis macroura Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis River Otter (LutraCanadensissonorae) Hooded Skunk Mephitis macroura Spotted Skunk Spilogalegracilis
BadgerTaxideataxus The badger is renowned for its power, tenacity, and irascible temperament. Few animals care to tangle with an enraged badger. This animal is strictly a carnivore, well adapted to digging small mammals from the ground with its 1 H inch long claws on powerful front feet. Its eyes are equipped with nictitating membranes (transparent third eyelids) to protect them from flying dirt while the badger is digging. Small, well-furred ears also keep dirt out while the badger tunnels. A badger is able to secrete a musky scent from its anal glands, but it can’t spray this fluid like skunks can.
Spotted Skunk Spilogalegracilis Skunks are nocturnal creatures famous for their ability to spray a fluid so noxious that it can stop a predator in its tracks. The only major predator skunks have, aside from humans and automobiles, is the great horned owl, which has almost no sense of smell. Skunks usually have enough fluid for 5 or 6 volleys of spray, which they can shoot up to about 12 feet. Their bold black and white patterns, easily seen at night, function as aposematic (warning) coloring, advertising the skunks’ malodorous capabilities. They retire underground for as many as several days at a time during cold winter storms. The spotted skunk is the only one able to climb trees, which expands its foraging opportunities
Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis There is variation in patterning among the skunks, but the striped usually has a black back with a white stripe along its sides. The tail is black with a white tip. The striped is a medium- to large-sized skunk at about 6 to 10 pounds. All the skunks are omnivores and opportunistic feeders. They eat anything from beetles, grubs, and grasshoppers to rodents, birds, carrion, seeds, and fruit. Skunks snuffle around or dig in the ground, turning over rocks, logs, and debris looking for insects, lizards, bird eggs, and so on. They hunt for mice and also search for fruit.
Hooded Skunk Mephitis macroura The hooded skunk looks much like the striped, but has a ruff of fur around the neck, and a very long, lush white plume for a tail.
Hog-nosed Skunk Conepatusmesoleucus • This is the least common skunk; it is all white on the top of head, back, and tail. The underparts are black. There is a bare patch of skin on this skunk’s long nose. The hog-nosed skunk uses its long snout to turn up leaf litter as it searches for worms, grubs, and insects.
River Otter (Lutra Canadensis sonorae) Although native river otters (Lutracanadensissonorae) have been extirpated in Arizona, they may have been common in earlier times, especially in the Salt, Verde, and Gila rivers. Scientists aren’t certain exactly what caused their disappearance; there were likely a number of factors that combined to eradicate them, including diverted water and dammed rivers. The Arizona Game and Fish Department released 46 transplanted Louisiana otters (Lutracanadensisleutra) into the Verde River between 1981 and 1983. The transplant proved very successful, with the population now estimated to be about 100 otters.
Know the differences between pocket mice and Kangaroo Rats, but you don’t have to identify all the species listed on NHSD page 501.
