Hello Hans

What you saw in the rodent department at Discovery Park was surely a Aplodontia if what you typed as "now visible tail and ears" was a typo and you meant "no visible tail and ears".

Aplodontia - more commonly known as Mountain Beavers, are common Puget Sound lowland creatures - rarely seen. They may have achieved the level of urban legend as Snipe have (as in "snipe hunt") but just as Snipe do, they actually exist. They're probably found in every greenbelt and 'natural park' in Seattle, Everett, ect.

The Aplodontia is a very ancient form of mammal. They are also imfamous for hosting the largest known species of flea, unless some flea nerd has found a larger one in the last few decades. Most lowland greenbelt slopes are riddled with Aplodontia burrows which are about 4"-6" in diameter and very shallow - I "fall" into them all the time on off trail rambles in the ravines of Everett.

While the evidence of Aplodontia is abundant, I've only seen two in my 50+ years. The first was back in the early 70's about this time of year as my family was driving up to Lake Cushman (Mason Co) in a torrential downpour. A Mountain Beaver was crossing the road right in front of us. Being a young nature nut, I knew what it was. My dad stopped and I got out to look at it - it was very agressive and gnashed it's very large rodent teeth. We departed. Apparently the males are aggresive during the mating season.

My second Aplodontia encounter was in West Seattle's Schmitz Park also in the early 70's. Along with Seward Park , Schmitz is a last vestage of original Seattle forest - well worth a pilgramage. I was skipping school one day (West Seattle High) with a friend and we were sitting on a bank of a ravine when in the near distance a tall Nettle plant 'fell over'. Then the nettle started moving across the ground. It then disapeared down a hole. Soon we saw this again - and spotted the Aplodontia responsible. It was funny - watching the critter 'logging' nettle plants. One wanted to yell 'timber !' as they fell.

A last note is that Aplodontia have some 'world class' whiskers - somewhat on the scale of an Otter. They're cute - just dont try to pet one.


Jeff Gibson
Everett Wa




Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:47:15 -0700
From: thefedderns at gmail.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Discovery Park Barred Owls and Aplodontia?

My wife and son and I went for a family walk at Discovery Park this Sunday afternoon, March 20th. It was a cold and blustery first day of spring. While walking the loop trail north of the former naval installation, we heard the distinctive call of a Barred Owl. It was answered by another owl further off in the woods. We were able to located the first caller and had great looks of it, looking back at us from a cedar. Suddenly my son spotted a strange mammal foraging under the same tree. We had brief looks at it. It appeared to be a rodent with now visible tail and ears, about the size of a muskrat. It was dark gray - almost black. The closest I came up with in a mammal field guide, was a Aplodontia. I had never heard of - or previously seen one. Is anybody out there familiar with their occurrence at Discovery Park?

Cheers,
--
Hans FeddernTwin Lakes/Federal Way, WAthefedderns at gmail.com


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