THE BLACK rat, above, is one of the many mammals that can be found in the Lynn Valley area. The black rat
first came to B.C. aboard the ships of European explorers. Drawing by Debbie Duncan, Lynn Canyon Ecology

Centre artist.

Many common mammals
call Lynn Valley home

The following column is submitted
by Kevin Bell, chief naturalist at
the Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre.
IN ADDITION TO THE raccoon,
featured in last *:onth’s . Lynn
Valley Echo, there are a number of
other wild mammals in the Lynn
Valley area.

The most common are the in-
troduced eastern North American
gray squirrel (often black in color
and spreading in this area); the
native Douglas squirrel, coyote,
black bear, two species of skunk,
mule deer, bats and mice, either
the native white-footed or the in-
troduced Eurasian house mouse.

We humans generally find
ourselves in contact with these
mammals due to their require-

ments for food and shelter. As we

develop our community of residen-
tial homes, we remove habitat for
many mammal species and create
habitat for new species. These new
species illustrate nature’s ability to
fill a vacuum.

The house mouse may originally
have been a wild creature of
southern Europe, northern Africa,
and Asia. As these continents
cover the ancient trade routes of
Eurasia, the house mouse was in-
troduced to many parts of that
area as early as 2000 B.C. Its close
telationship with people as both
pet and pest has been very long.
Shipboard mice travelled the world
as early as the 1400s. There is little
doubt that Captain Cook’s ships
had their complement of mice. :

These early ships also brought
the black rat to B.C. This species
looks like an overgrown mouse
with a very long naked tail (about
eight and one-half inches) and a
short body (seven inches).

Their native area is from Turkey
to somewhere in the Orient. In
fact, no One seems sure where this
species originally came from. It did
arrive in Europe in the 800s A.D.
and, with its fleas, it eventually
brought us the bubonic and
pneumonic plagues of the 1600s.

A very adaptable mammal, the
black rat lives in buildings, forests,
fields, farms, ships and just about
anywhere there is food and shelter.
In B.C., only the cold winters of
the interior deter them. Along the
coast they. live wild in many areas
where there once were mining,

logging or fishing camps.
On the North Shore and in
coastal B.C., their numbers are

. controlled by food supply and

predators such as coyotes, fox,
mink, owls, hawks and our own
domestic cats.

The much larger Norway or
brown rat is not from Norway at
all, but. arrived. in Europe in the
1550s from its original home in
eastern Asia where it lived along
riverbanks, which it still likes.

Due to its size (15 inches, tail
eight inches), the brown rat will
take over from the black rat in
areas near water.

The brown is not as good a
climber as the black however, and
in old waterside buildings, the
biack may still be found in the up-
per floors. The brown has a more
restricted range in B.C. than the

black as it cannot survive away
from human settlement. .

On the North Shore, the brown
is found along creeks and the
waterfront of Burrard Inlet,
especially where bulk food is
trans-shipped. In autumn there is
a movement of surplus animals
up creeks looking for new territory
and this is when we get most calls
about these large rats.

To avoid having any of these
species as guests in your home,
keep all food (including pet food)
away from them. Clean food
storage and kitchen areas —
where garbage is always in a sealed
container —- and of course, a solid,
well-sealed outdoor garbage con-
tainer will all help to keep them
away.

See Dispose
Page 13

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