Ord’s kangaroo rats are small, nocturnal hoppers built for dry, sandy ground, and Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge’s prairie benches, the nearby wildlife management areas, and the sandy soils along the Missouri River corridor all offer that kind of terrain. Montana has logged 61 records of the species, every one from GBIF survey data rather than iNaturalist photos, which fits an animal that only comes out after dark and rarely poses for a camera.
Reports climb sharply in June and August, with smaller numbers scattered through the rest of the warm season and nothing at all from October through April. That pattern likely tracks when trapping surveys ran and when the animal is out and active, not how many kangaroo rats actually live in the state. NatureServe lists the species as S5, secure, in Montana, so the modest record count here reflects limited survey effort rather than scarcity.
Full species profile
