Small mammals

Abstract

Among the 80-some mammals that occur in the state, more than 50 can be considered small, and most of these have distributions that extend into the peatlands of northern Minnesota. Despite the potential diversity of small mammals in this area, very few species are peatlands specialists; most of them fall somewhere between the categories of common resident and occasional visitor. Small mammals are present in every habitat type represented in the patterned peatlands region. Local differences in landscape and hydrological conditions in the area produce regional variation that is reflected in the different species' distributional patterns. In general, the majority of small mammal species in this region are numerous in only a few habitats and occur in low numbers or are absent from the rest.