Photo ID - Eulipotyphla, Lagomorpha, Rodentia

Soricidae

venomous, will starve in a day, red-toothed

Soricidae - Northern Short-tailed Shrew

largest shrew in KS, brown-gray, don’t see above ground

Soricidae - Least Shrew

smallest mammal in KS, white/gray belly

Soricidae - Masked Shrew

small; white/gray belly; bicolored tail; dark tail tip

Talpidae - Eastern Mole

eyes covered with skin; no external ears; front feet paddle like, wide palms and large claws

Leporidae - Black-tailed Jack rabbit

black hair on top of its tail that extends onto rump as a stripe

Leporidae - White-tailed Jackrabbit

all-white tail; hind legs shorter than black-tailed jackrabbit; extirpated from KS

Leporidae - Eastern Cottontail

most common; nape of neck has rusty red patch; shorter ears than jack rabbit

Leporidae - Desert Cottontail

Nape has rusty red patch; paler than cottontail; has longer and more thinly haired ears

Rodentia

uses diastema to suck into cheek to protect mouth and throat; also allows to gnaw under water

Catoridae - North American Beaver

dorsoventrally flattened paddle-scaly tail; hindfeet are webbed; ecosystem engineer

Cricetidae - Prairie vole

grizzled effect; short tail; tail dark above, light below (bicolored)

Cricetidae - woodland vole

velvety (smooth dull red-brown); short tail; tail faintly bicolored

Cricetidae - muskrat

laterally-compressed hairless tail; plump rodent

Cricetidae - eastern woodrat

long, haired tail; back is creamy buff to gray; white throat, belly, feet, and up onto sides; bicolored tail; use dens for mutli generations

Cricetidae - hispid cotton rat

fur is coarse and grizzled; large and robust; tail is thinly hair, scaly, shorter than head + body

Cricetidae - southern bog lemming

shaggy and grizzled fur; big head and short tail; belly and sides “washed” with gray

Cricetidae - northern grasshopper mouse

stout bodied with short tail ending in white; white under nose, sides, cheeks, and belly; bark/howl - territorial; mostly carnivores

Cricetidae - white-footed mouse

long tail and hindfoot; back is orangish-brown

Cricetidae - western deer mouse

shorter tail and hindfoot; white underside; most abundant in KS

Mouse, vole, and shrew differences

m: very large eyes, long tail, large ears; v: small eyes, short tail, small ears, rounded snout; s: small eyes, short tail, small ears, pointed snout