Florida mammals

Muskrat in Florida

Ondatra zibethicus

Native to Florida

Not listed as nonindigenous in Florida by USGS NAS; treated as native to its mapped Florida range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Muskrat in Florida, by the numbers

Common in Florida 24th most recorded of 116 mammals logged in Florida

441 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

441 total records count every Florida occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 36 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Muskrat in Florida

Most sightings fall in January.

36 Florida occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Florida records (table)
MonthRecords
January10
February0
March2
April7
May4
June1
July6
August2
September2
October2
November0
December0

Monthly muskrat occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Florida, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Florida, with recorded sightings peaking in January, with a smaller rise in April and July.

Occurrence map

Where Muskrat has been recorded in Florida

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Florida records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Ichetucknee Springs State Park 357
Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park 2

Protected places with the most muskrat sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Florida

CountyRecords
Columbia County 358
Wakulla County 31
Levy County 19
Gilchrist County 14
Jefferson County 10
Citrus County 5
Alachua County 2
Marion County 1
Putnam County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 9 Florida counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Florida sits at the southern edge of the muskrat’s mapped range, and the state’s records reflect that: 441 GBIF entries, but none from iNaturalist’s community-verified sightings. With no independently confirmed encounters, these are best read as scattered database records rather than a trail of recent activity.

January stands out as the state’s clearest reporting peak, with April a distant second, but total activity logged across the year stays low throughout. That thin, edge-of-range pattern fits a species near the southern limit of where it lives, not one thriving statewide.

Muskrat in other states

More mammals in Florida in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"