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  • Home
  • About iDigBio and the AR Collection Card Project
  • ARPEO Project
  • PROJECT REPORT 2022
  • Macrofungi: The Daisy Earthstar
    • New England Vascular Plants: The Cardinal Flower
    • Take a Closer Look: Reindeer moss
    • Take a Closer Look: Daisy Earthstars
  • The Consortia of North American Lichens and Bryophytes: Greygreen Reindeer Lichen
    • Keys to the Cabinet: SE Plants: The White-topped Pitcher Plant
  • Invertnet Collection Network: The Thorn Bug
    • Take a Closer Look: Thorn Bug Treehopper
  • Paleoniches: Brachiopods
  • Ammonite
  • iDigBio: Channel Catfish
  • Great Lakes Invasive Network: Zebra mussel
  • Tri-Trophic Thematic Collection Network: Stink Bug Parasitoid
  • Macroalgal: Elk Kelp
  • Insect Fossils: Tsetse Fly
  • SCAN: Earth-boring Scarab Beetle
  • InvertEBase: Carolina Mantis
  • EPICC: Fossil Crab
  • Animal Communication: Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  • Poweshiek Skipperling
  • RINGTAIL
  • Tarantula Hawk
    • Take a Closer Look: at the Tarantula Hawk
  • Sonoran Mantid
  • California Leaf-nosed Bat
    • Take a Closer Look: Bat Wings
  • Pipevine Swallowtail
    • Plants to attract Pipevine Swallowtails
  • Desert Hairy Scorpion
  • Gila Monster
  • Ocotillo
  • California Poppy
  • Anna's hummingbird
    • Plants to attract Hummingbirds
  • Monarch
    • Plants to attract Monarchs
  • Bumblebee
    • Plants to Attract Bumblebees
  • White-nosed coati
  • Asian Long-horned beetle
    • ALB Life Cycle
  • Learning Resources
    • Latitude and Longitude Game
  • Special Thanks
  • Give Us Your Feedback!
  • Contact Us
  • Specimen Cards
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • TEST page
  • Human Evolution lab
  • Skull 8

RingTAIL CAT: Did you know?

Picture
Click on link to download card
Bassariscus astutus
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​The Ringtail cat is not a cat at all. It is a member of the Procyonidae, an animal family that includes raccoons and coati mundi, animals that also live in the Sonoran Desert. All three of these creatures have long, black and white- striped tails.

Many people live in the Sonoran Desert their whole lives and never see a Ringtail. This is because they are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night and sleep during the day. When you look at a Ringtail you may notice it’s unusually large eyes. These helps it see in the dark. Look at your ringtail skull and notice the size of the eye sockets.  They need to be this big, to hold such large eyes!

Not only are Ringtails nocturnal, they also spend most of their time in rocky outcrops that are hard for humans to get to. This helps keep them safe from predators. Ringtails have a special adaptation to their rocky environment.

They can rotate their feet 180 degrees, which helps them climb rocks, especially when they need to climb straight down head first! Another adaptation is their long tail, which they use for balance while climbing and leaping across the rocks.

Ringtails are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and plants. If you look at their skull, you can see both sharp, pointy teeth and larger, flat teeth. The pointy teeth are for biting and tearing meat, and the larger, flat teeth are for grinding plants. Ringtails will eat everything from mice, centipedes, carrion, birds, and plants. 

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