Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge anchors the named Tennessee records for hispid cotton rats, pointing toward thick grass and weedy cover in the state’s western river country. Records also reach the Valley and Ridge, Middle Tennessee basin, and Cumberland Plateau. Around the Smokies and Cherokee National Forest, suitable ground is more likely in openings and field edges than beneath closed forest.
Reports rise from March through May and again in November, with March the strongest month. That split pattern may reflect when small-mammal surveys were run as much as the rats themselves. It shows recorded timing, not a statewide population cycle.
Full species profile
