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This group of mammals includes the American marten, fisher, and wolverine which are all Oregon Conservation Strategy Species.
The American marten is weasel-like with a long body and pointy face. The legs are short; the toes, including the pads, are completely furred; and the nails are semiretractile. The tail is bushy and long. The pelage in winter is luxuriant, with a dense underfur and sparse covering of guard hairs. The color varies, but usually is a golden brown shading to dark brown on the feet and tail; the head is lighter. The throat and chest are splotched with orange or yellow. A small dark stripe extends upward from the medial corner of each eye, giving the appearance of
The Fisher is considerably larger than the marten and males are considerably larger than females. It is more stockily built than the weasels, but is similar in that the head is somewhat pointed, the body elongate, and the legs short. The pelage is long except on the face. The fur is dark brown grading to black on the rump and legs; the tail is black. Fishers once occurred throughout the coniferous and mixed forests of Oregon's Coast Range and Cascade Mountains. Currently, there is a native population in the Siskiyou Mountains and an introduced populations in the southern Cascades that
The Ermine is the smallest member of the genus in Oregon. It has a long, cylindrical neck and body and short legs, but the tail is relatively short. The head is flattened and somewhat triangular, the eyes are small and slightly protruding, and the ears are rounded. The summer pelage is brown dorsally, usually white or yellowish ventrally; in some individuals the throat and belly are splotched with brown or are entirely brown. In some populations east of the Cascade Range, ermines replace brown summer pelage with a white winter pelage. The tip of the tail remains black at all
The Long-tailed weasel is the larger of the two weasels in Oregon, but smaller than the other member of the genus, the mink. Males are considerably larger than females. The head is flattened and somewhat triangular; the body and neck are elongate and almost cylindrical; the legs are short, and the tail is long. The summer pelage is brown dorsally; the venter is yellowish to orangish except for a white chin and sometimes one or more scattered brown spots. The tip of the tail is black. The pelage is molted twice annually. In the Cascade Range and eastward through the
The Mink is a semiaquatic species. The body is elongate and cylindrical, the legs are short and stout, the tail is bushy and about half as long as the head and body. The head is flattened, the ears small and rounded, and the nose is pointed. The pelage consists of dense grayish underfur and long lustrous guard hairs. Dorsally, it is dark brown to blackish but somewhat lighter on the venter. In Oregon, the mink is found throughout the state and is associated with river, lake, pond, or marsh environments. They forage along overhanging banks, and in holes and crevices
The Wolverine is the largest terrestrial mustelid in Oregon that, to some degree, resembles a small bear. It is powerfully built with a broad, dog-like head; short round ears; small eyes; a slightly humped back; relatively short legs and a bushy, somewhat drooping tale. The pelage consists of a dense, wooly, crimped under fur overlain by course, stiff and somewhat shaggy guard hairs. Fur on the tail is about twice as long as on the body. The base color is blackish brown with a pale brown stripe extending along the sides from the head or shoulders to the base of
The American badger is a medium-sized, powerfully built carnivore strongly adapted for digging. The body is flattened and the legs are short but stout; the toes of the forefeet are partly webbed and equipped with long, curved claws; the hind feet are shaped like miniature shovels; and each eye is equipped with a membrane that can be extended to cover it. The ears are rounded and densely covered with fur but seem large in comparison with those of many digging mammals. The tail is short and brushlike. Dorsally, the long, shaggy pelage is mottled grayish blending on the venter to
The River otter is adapted for both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The heavily muscled, somewhat cylindrical body is thickest at the thorax and tapers posteriorly to a thick, flattened tail. The body tapers to a blunt and slightly flattened head. The legs are short and powerful; and the toes are webbed. The eyes are small, forwardly directed and set high on the head. The underfur is grayish, short, and dense, and overlain by longer, stiff and shiny guard hairs. The dorsum is brown and the venter a lighter brown or tan; the lower jaw and throat are whitish. In Oregon
The Western spotted skunk is smaller and more weasel-like than the Striped skunk. The pelage is black with a somewhat pentagonal white patch between the eyes, a round white patch on each side of the head and four or six segmented white body stripes. This skunk is endowed with a muscle-encapsulated musk gland similar to those of the Striped skunk and so similarly, can eject musk from two papillae located under the tail. The odor of the musk is considered somewhat more pungent or acrid but is less spreading than that of the Striped skunk. In Oregon, this skunk occurs
The Striped skunk is about the size of a house cat with a pointed head; slightly upturned, nearly spherical nose pad; and beady black eyes. The pelage is entirely black except for a narrow white stripe on the forehead and nose, a white pate leading to two diverging white stripes on the back that extend partly or completely to the rump. Entirely white skunks, or skunks with the black replaced by seal brown or the white replaced by yellow are also know to occur. Without doubt, the most widely recognized characteristic of the Striped skunk is the pungent odor of
Oregon's three cat species all belong to the same family as the domestic house cat. Cats are muscular but graceful and have retractable claws to hold prey.
The cougar is the largest felid in Oregon, and except for the jaguar, the largest felid in the western Hemisphere. The skull of the cougar, also know as mountain lion, is massive; the canine teeth are large and slightly recurved. The heel pads of both fore and hind feet have three lobes on the posterior margin which are useful in separating the tracks of a cougar from those of other felids, such as the lynx. The dense and soft dorsal fur typically is tawny, but slate gray and reddish brown individuals are known. The venter is whitish. The back of
The Canada lynx is only slightly larger than the bobcat. Nevertheless, long legs and long fur produce the illusion that the lynx is considerably larger than it actually is. Documented accounts of wild lynx are rare and lynx are not expected to currently reside in Oregon. However, if lynx were to be observed, it is likely to occur at higher elevations such as in the Cascade Range, Blue Mountains or Wallowa Mountains. Habitats used by lynx often are defined in terms of habitats used by their primary prey species, thus good snowshoe hare habitat usually is considered to be good
The bobcat is the smallest wild felid in Oregon, with females being considerably smaller than males. The bobcat is about twice the size of a domestic cat, but its legs are longer, its tail is shorter, and its body is more muscular and compact. The feet are relatively small and the bobcat is not well adapted to negotiate deep snow. In general, the variously spotted pelage is yellowish with grayish overtones in winter and with reddish overtones in summer, reflecting the two annual molts. The ears are black with a large white spot and are equipped with short black tufts
Oregon's hoofed mammals include three sub-species of deer, along with moose, elk, goat, and sheep. Otherwise known as ungulates, these animals are herbivores.
The elk is the largest cervid in Oregon. These heavy-bodied, deer-like mammals have narrow faces tapering to a naked nose pad; relatively small, pointed ears; a heavily maned neck; a back slightly humped at the shoulders, a contrasting rump patch; and a small tail. Pelage color is grayish brown to reddish brown, somewhat lighter among males in winter. The mane is dark brown and the rump patch and tail are cream colored. The underparts (except for a whitish patch between the hind legs) and legs are dark brown to almost blackish. Adult females, their current offspring, and their female offspring
Nearly a dozen subspecies of Odocoileus hemionus are recognized. Of these, two occur in Oregon - the mule deer and Columbian black-tailed deer, often just referred to as "Black-tailed deer." The mule deer is larger, lighter in color, and often associated with more open habitats, whereas the black-tailed deer is smaller and darker, and frequents dense, early seral forest communities. The most distinguishing feature of the black-tailed deer is the tail. Although not as long or wide as that of the white-tail, it is much larger than that of the mule deer. Because of the differences in size, color, marking
The mule deer is the larger member of the genus in Oregon. The ears are long, the metatarsal gland is surrounded by hairs similar in color but considerably longer than those on the remainder of the metatarsus, and the tail is short and constricted basally. Among adult males, the antlers are dichotomously branched with tines of approximately equal length. In winter, the basic pelage color is cinnamon buff. The chest is nearly black at the midline grading to grayish on the sides. The nose, sides of face, chin, and throat are whitish to pale buff. Spots of black occur immediately
The Columbian white-tailed deer is the smallest cervid in Oregon. The most distinguishing feature is the long, wide tail that can easily be seen, especially when raised when startled. The tail is brown dorsally with a white fringe, and white ventrally. In males, antlers with tines typically arise from a single main beam. In winter, the pelage is a dark buffy-gray and consists of relatively long, thick, and somewhat brittle hairs; in summer, the pelage is lighter with more tawny tones and is shorter and thinner. The midline of the dorsum is darker and the fade lighter; in males, the