Hispid cotton rats favor dense grass and old-field cover, and Missouri sits near the northern edge of a range centered farther south. Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Big Oak Tree State Park protect grassy bottomland margins in the bootheel that suit the species, while Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge’s mix of grassland and farmland edge extends that habitat north.
Records show three separate peaks, in February, June, and October, an unusual pattern for a small rodent that likely reflects small-mammal trapping surveys conducted at different times of year rather than a true seasonal pulse in activity. GBIF supplies most of the data (88 of 102 records) against a smaller iNaturalist share (37), consistent with a rodent identified mainly through trapping and specimen work rather than photographs, since cotton rats are easy to mistake for other small rodents on sight. NatureServe ranks the Missouri population S4, Apparently Secure. The total describes where and when surveyors or observers documented the species, not how many cotton rats live along these grassy edges.
Full species profile
