European regional assessment: Not Applicable (NA)
EU 27 regional assessment: Not Applicable (NA)

The Common Muskrat is listed as Not Applicable for both Europe and the EU 27 Member States, as this species is not native to Europe, and was introduced post-1500. It was first released in Czechia in 1905, but has since spread across mainland Europe and the British Isles (Tsiamis et al. 2019).

In the European region, this species was introduced to present-day Czechia in 1905 for fur farming, but has since then spread throughout Europe and is considered invasive (Tsiamis et al. 2019).

Outside of Europe, this species occurs in North America, from northern Canada and Alaska south through the United States, except the arid regions of the southwest and Texas, and the Florida peninsula. It is also now present throughout Mongolia, China, northeast Korea, and Honshu Island, Japan. It is also introduced in Argentina (Musser and Carleton 2005, Skyriene and Paulauskas 2012).

The Common Muskrat is common to abundant in suitable habitats, with average densities of 40 individuals per hectare (Feldhamer, 1999 in Wilson and Ruff, 1999).

Common Muskrats are found in brackish and fresh-water lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, and marshes. Depending on the location, they will either dig burrows into waterside banks, or construct houses of vegetation. These are built so that the main chambers are above water level, but can only be entered through underwater tunnels. Separate structures are constructed for feeding and nesting (Feldhamer, 1999 in Wilson and Ruff, 1999). Muskrats exhibit many morphological adaptations for aquatic life, including lips that close behind incisors to allow gnawing under water, partially webbed hindfeet, and the ability to stay submerged for up to 20 minutes. Muskrats are primarily herbivorous, feeding on aquatic vegetation such as cattails and horsetails. During periods of food scarcity, individuals will also consume animal matter such as mussels, turtles, mice, birds, frogs and fish (Wilner et al. 1980).

The majority of Common Muskrat mortality is caused by humans. Muskrats are extensively trapped for their pelts, which are of increasing economic value around the world. High population densities of Muskrats often result in destruction of local habitat, including damage to river banks caused by burrowing, and the reduction of aquatic vegetation due to over consumption for food and building materials. As a result, Muskrats are often treated as a pest species and are trapped, hunted or poisoned to control population levels.

There is no information available regarding whether this species is utilised.

There are no measures currently in place to protect this species, and none are deemed necessary as it is invasive in Europe.