Study provides rare glimpse of the ringtail, an important but poorly understood predator

(MARCH 7, 2024) Scientists from Oregon State University, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, Penn State, and Cal Poly Humboldt worked together to learn more about a secretive species called the ringtail. The ringtail is a relative of the raccoon and is important to many Indigenous peoples in North America.

Ringtails are small nocturnal carnivores with big eyes and fluffy, striped tails. They usually weigh between 1 and 2 pounds and are about 24 inches long, including their tails.

The researchers studied ringtails on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in California. They discovered that ringtails like to use tree cavities in mature and older forests, as well as in younger forests with some older trees. They avoid open areas like oak woodlands. Surprisingly, they also avoid resting near streams and are not affected by the presence of fishers, another cat-like carnivore.

Ringtails face challenges because their habitats are disappearing, especially oak woodlands. The researchers hope that understanding more about where ringtails live will help in conserving their habitats.

These animals are sometimes called ring-tailed cats or miners cats. They were kept in mining camps to control rodents, but they are not part of the cat family. Ringtails live in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, stretching east to include states like Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Ringtails are excellent climbers and can go up trees, walls, and even cacti. They have a unique ability to rotate their hind feet 180 degrees for a strong grip during descent. They also have good eyesight and hearing.

In the wild, ringtails live for six to nine years, but they can live longer in zoos. They make their homes in tree cavities, rock crevices, tree hollows, and other animals' burrows. They are also known to live in mine shafts, abandoned buildings, and sometimes even in attics.

Ringtails eat insects, lizards, snakes, small mammals, birds, bird eggs, and even fruit. The Hoopa Valley Tribe supported the research, and the findings will help in the Tribe's efforts for forest management and restoration.