Trivia question for Aug-30-2011

It’s Carter’s turn for the trivia today and he wanted to start the trivia off by letting everyone know that today is Olivia’s 9th Birthday 😉  Anyway, let see if you can identify these critters.  These are shy nocturnal creatures that are seldom seen, even in areas where it is relatively common.

These guys are found in southern California, Colorado, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, southern Nevada, Texas, Utah and throughout northern and central Mexico. It is found in rocky, desert as its habitat, where it nests in the hollows of trees or abandoned wooden structures. Owls, foxes, coyotes, raccoons and bobcats will prey upon these guys. These small omnivores produce a variety of sounds, including clicks and chatters reminiscent of raccoons. A typical call is a very loud, plaintive bark. As adults, these mammals lead solitary lives, generally coming together only to mate.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and tell us what they like to eat?  Also, these guys have a nickname that was given to them by frontier miner’s, tell us what that name is?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to Amy from San Diego CA for being the first with the correct answer.  The relative to the raccoon that we featured is the Ringtail.  The Ringtail is a mammal of the raccoon family (thus not actually a cat), native to arid regions of North America. It is also known as the Ringtail cat, Ring-tailed cat or Miner’s cat, and is also sometimes mistakenly called a “civet cat” (after similar, though unrelated, cat-like omnivores of Asia and Africa).

Ringtails are nocturnal, solitary, timid, and rarely seen. It is omnivorous, eating fruits, berries, insects, lizards, small rodents, and birds.  They have been called a Miners Cat because miners used to keep these guys in the mines with them because they are such good rodent hunters.  Here is more on these cuddly little guys:  Ringtail

Thanks for playing along 😉