Ringtail (Bassariscus astutus)
Nowak, Ronald, 1991, Walker's Mammals of the world, Fifth Edition (two vols.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; Hoffmeister, D. F., 1986, Mammals of Arizona, Tucson: University of Arizona Press; Burt, W. & R. Grossenheider, eds., 1976, A Field Guide to the Mammals, Peterson Field Guides: Houghton Mifflin;
These small Procyonids range from southwestern Oregon and easter Kansas down into southern Mexico. (Another species extends from southern Mexico to Panama.) The Ringtail is distinguished from its two fellow Procyonids (the Raccoons and Coatimundis) by its outsized and very bushy tail with its brightly contrasting black-&-white rings (see all three of our attached images), and by its considerably smaller size. Head and body length runs from 14-16", and the very bushy, blackish/whitish ringed tail is the same length or longer. Weight runs from 2 to 2 1/2 lbs. Upper parts of the body are "buffy, with a black or dark brown wash" (Nowak II:1099), while the underparts are white or white/buff. The animal's body is elongated, and its head seems rather small in relation to its large pointed ears and large eyes. The eye is ringed with black or dark brown, and the head has whitish patches.
Ringtails
are unusually agile, excellent climbers on rocks, cliffs, and in trees,
and prefer such areas that are near water, nesting in caves & crevices.
They are mainly nocturnal but often quite bold in the presence of humans
(they may even occupy attics of occupied houses, and in earlier days
were kept by settlers as pets & rodent-catchers). They feed on a
wide variety of very small animals, and maintain rather small home ranges,
sometimes living in pairs or small groups, but are generally solitary
except in the breeding season (February to May), after which the mother
gives birth (from April to July) usually to 2-4 young. The offsprings'
eyes open in about a month, and they usually become independent by 4
months.
