Mammals at Burns Pinon Ridge Reserve

    The following are the mammals that I have documented on the Reserve.  There are likely others that pass through the Reserve or are intermittent residents like badgers or skunks.  Bats have been seen flying over the Reserve.  It would not be surprising to find ten or more species, but they have not been documented.  The domestic dogs that occasionally wander onto the Reserve is not listed, nor are the horses (and riders) that illegally trespass on occasion.

Order Insectivora

     Family Soricidae
          Desert Shrew                         Notiosorex crawfordi

Order Rodentia

    Family Sciuridae

        California Ground Squirrel        Spermophilus beecheyi

        Antelope Ground Squirrel        Ammospermophilus leucurus

    Family Geomyidae

        Botta's Pocket Gopher            Thomomys bottae

    Family Cricetidae

        Dusky-footed Woodrat            Neotoma fuscipes
        Desert Woodrat                       Noetoma lepida
        Southern Grasshopper Mouse    Onychomys torridus
        Canon Mouse                            Peromyscus crinitus
        Cactus Mouse                            Peromyscus eremicus
        Pinon Mouse                               Peromyscus truei
        Brush Mouse                                Peromsycus boylii
        White-footed Deer Mouse            Peromsycus maniculatus

    Family Heteromyidae

        San Diego Pocket Mouse            Chaetodipus fallax
        Little Pocket Mouse                    Perognathus longimembris
        Desert Pocket Mouse                 Chaetodipus penicillatus
        Merriam's Kangaroo Rat            Dipodomys merriami

Order Artiodactyla

    Family Cervidae

        Mule Deer                                Odocoileus hemionus

Order Carnivora

    Family Canidae

        Coyote                                    Canis latrans
        Gray Fox                                Urocyon cinereoargenteus

Order Lagomorpha

    Family Leporidae

        Black-tailed Jackrabbit            Lepus californicus
        Audubon's Cottontail                Sylvilagus audubonii

Field Notes:  With our classes, we generally run 100 Sherman live traps in a 5 x 20 grid with each trap 10 m apart.  The grid is permanent and we have been trapping here for about 10 years.  It is interesting that both species of Neotoma are present at this location.  Onychomys seems to be found here only on good wet years; during drought years, this species disappears.  I have five species of Peromyscus listed.  The caveat is what a mammalogist once told me... "anyone who says he/she can identify members of the genus Peromyscus is a liar."  That said, we generally field identify specimens using Jameson & Peeters (1988) and go to Hall (1981) if we have skeletal material.  We seem to catch predominantly P. crinitus with some P. eremicus.  The other three are rare.  Chaetodipus fallax is generally the numerically dominant small rodent that we trap.  We seem to be catching P.l. longimembris, not P.l. bangsi, which is a listed species and found lower down in the Palm Springs area.  We have seen only one specimen of C. penicillatus.   The Gray Fox has been seen twice by students, once boldly coming into camp and making off  with a small tub of cream cheese!
     Another listing of mammals is available on the Burns Reserve website.

Last edited:  06 May 2007