Rodents
| Name | Range | More information |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska marmot Marmota broweri Image |
The Alaska marmot is found in the scree slopes of the Brooks Range, which provide protection from predators. They eat grass, flowering plants, berries, roots, moss, and lichen. Alaska marmots have special winter dens with a single entrance that is plugged during the entire winter hibernation period. They are built on exposed ridges that thaw earlier than other areas, and the entire colony stays within the den from September until the plug melts in early May. Most marmots mate before emerging from the winter den. In areas where marmots are hunted, marmots remain quiet when approached by humans; Alaska Natives have traditionally eaten marmot meat and used marmot fur in clothing. | |
| Hoary marmot Marmota caligata |
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| Woodchuck Marmota monax |
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| Arctic ground squirrel Spermophilus parryii |
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| Red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus |
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| Northern flying squirrel Glaucomys sabrinus |
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| Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum |
Weighing approximately 15 pounds, porcupines are the largest of Alaska's rodents except for beavers. Porcupines are found everywhere in Alaska except the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak, Nunivak, and St. Lawrence islands. In winter, porcupines primarily eat trees' inner bark; in summer, they eat trees' buds and young leaves. Porcupines can cause forest management problems when they eat terminal buds or eating bark all the way around trees, though in most parts of Alaska there are not enough porcupines to cause significant damage. Though porcupine's quills discourage most predators, fishers, lynx, wolves, coyotes, and wolverines have developed methods of killing porcupines safely. Porcupines are also easily killed by hunters because of their plodding gate, but they are generally unpopular among hunters because of their meat's strong taste. Porcupine quills are used by Alaska Natives for decoration of clothing; these are collected by cornering porcupines and tapping them with a styrofoam paddle. The porcupine didn't reached Alaska until the last ice age. | |
| Beaver Castor canadensis |
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| Bushy-tailed woodrat Neotoma cinerea |
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| Deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus |
Introduced | |
| Forest deer mouse Peromyscus keeni Image |
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| Meadow jumping mouse Zapus hudsonius |
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| Western jumping mouse Zapus princeps |
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| Norway rat Rattus norvegicus |
Introduced. | |
| House mouse Mus musculus |
Introduced. | |
| Brown lemming Lemmus trimucronatus |
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| Northern collared lemming Dicrostonyx groenlandicus Image |
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| Northern bog lemming Synaptomys borealis Image |
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| Long-tailed vole Microtus longicaudus |
Long-tailed voles may be found throughout Southeast Alaska, the Yakutat forelands, and the far eastern Interior. | |
| Meadow vole Microtus pennsylvanicus |
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| Singing vole Microtus miurus |
The distribution of the singing vole has not yet been well characterized. Specimens have been found on the North Slope, Seward Peninsula, Brooks Range, Alaska Range, south to the Kenai Peninsula and Cook Inlet, and west to Cape Newenham. There appear to be no singing voles in the Interior and Southeast. | |
| St. Matthew Island vole Microtus abbreviatus Image |
There have been relatively few observations of the St. Matthew Island vole, due to the inaccessibility of St. Matthew Island and the adjacent Hall Island, the only locations it has been found. On these Bering Sea islands, St. Matthew Island voles live in damp lowland areas, on the lower slopes of mountains, and on rye grass-covered beaches. They are diurnal and eat plant matter. Birds and Arctic foxes (the only other mammals on the island) prey on the voles. | |
| Tundra vole Microtus oeconomus |
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| Yellow-cheeked vole Microtus xanthognathus Image |
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| Western heather vole Phenacomys intermedius Image |
The first western heather vole specimen in Alaska was identified in 1999 near Hyder, Alaska. | |
| Northern red-backed vole Clethrionomys rutilus Image |
Northern red-backed voles are found throughout mainland Alaska. It is also found on Unimak Island and St. Lawrence Island, but not Southeast Alaska, Kodiak, or Nunivak Island. | |
| Southern red-backed vole Clethrionomys gapperi |
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| Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus |
Read more about this topic: List Of Mammals Of Alaska