MAMMALS CROSSING ROADS AT NIGHT

     Over the years, I've had the thrill of seeing several kinds of nocturnal mammals crossing roads and streets at night in southeastern Pennsylvania.  These adaptable, common critters, including striped skunks, opossums, red foxes, house cats, white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits, raccoons, muskrats and mink, are seldom seen during days in human-made habitats, including suburbs, farmland and roadsides.  But these interesting mammals can be quickly identified in headlights at night by their sizes, shapes, the way they move, and their tails.  Their eye shine, caused by their eyes reflecting vehicle lights, might be the first clue of their presence on the road ahead,  a clue to avoid collision with the creatures.  

     Skunks are easy to identify crossing roads at night because of their black fur, with white stripes, and black and white, plumed tails.  They move along slowly because of their confidence in their ability to discharge a smelly substance that rejects would-be predators.  

     Opossums, North America's only marsupial, is house cat-sized, with light-gray fur, pointy snouts and long, naked tails.  They, too, lumber across roads, where some of them are hit by vehicles.            

     Red foxes are seldom seen along roads because they are too intelligent to be on them, and they are fast on their feet, therefore avoiding traffic when they do cross.  Still, one is found dead along a road once in a great while.  Red foxes are the size of small dogs, and look like some dogs.  But these foxes have orange fur, with a large, white tip on the end of each tail.

     Most everyone recognizes house cats when they dash across a road.  These cats, when outside, are as good as predators as any fox, but like wild critters, outdoor cats run the risk of being killed on roads; and many of them are.     

     White-tailed deer are unmistakable because of their size.  They can be dangerous to motorists along roads, particularly during November during their breeding season, or rut,  because of their size and weight when vehicles hit them.  Watch for their pale-green eye-shine down the road to help avoid hitting them on the road.  

     Cottontail rabbits are common on suburban lawns and along roadsides.  One can easily identify them crossing a road by their swift, bounding gait and the white undersides of their cottonball tails as they bounce along.

     Raccoons are readily identified by the black mask over their eyes, and their gray and black-ringed tails as they shuffle, hunch-backed, across roads, especially near creeks and ponds where they hunt for frogs, crayfish and other edibles.

     Muskrats and mink are two other species of mammals that are common along waterways and impoundments here in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Both these critters have dark, luxuriant fur, but the chunky, rabbit-sized muskrats have naked tails while the long, slender mink have furry ones.    

     One can determine what kinds of nocturnal mammals are in an area by seeing some of them along roads at night.  Though those critters can make dangerous driving at times, they also help make driving at night a bit more interesting.

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