Younger Lagoon Reserve

Mammals of Younger Lagoon Reserve

Younger Lagoon is part of the natural range of many mammals, and is connected by open space to large wild areas of the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains. So-called introduced exotic species, or non-California natives, also visit the lagoon.

Younger Lagoon Reserve by itself, at a mere 25 acres, is not enough habitat to sustain most of the mammal species that use it. But as part of a series of small to large preserved places it provides valuable habitat to many species that could not survive in the surrounding areas that have been modified by human use. By providing habitat in multiple pieces throughout a larger developed area we can help sustain species that otherwise would not be able to survive in the region (as long as those species can move among those habitat pieces).

Brush Rabbit

Animal Self-Portraits

In 1993 UCSC students Kelly Finn, Shay Hilleary, Chelsea Lopes and Kerry Stanton set up a photographic feeding station at Younger Lagoon as part of a Senior Thesis Project to survey animal traffic in the area. As seen by these "self portraits," numerous mammals make YLR part of their nocturnal meanderings.

Striped Skunk at night Striped Skunk   The striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, is a common visitor to homes and trash cans even in urban Santa Cruz. We are all familiar with its defense mechanism, especially those of us with overly curious dogs or open spaces under our houses where expectant mother skunks find good sheltered places to raise their babies. This skunk, like the other mammals on this page, is sniffing a can of tuna fish left between our automatic camera and an infrared beam that triggers the camera. Skunks will eat just about anything, garbage, cat and dog food, eggs and baby birds, insects, etc.

Grey Fox at feeding station Gray Fox   This gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, had its picture snapped several times during our study; it appears to be very fond of tuna fish. We suspect gray foxes have a den inside the Younger Lagoon Reserve and have bred there. These gray foxes are native to the Santa Cruz Mountains and unlike the very unwelcome, introducted Red Fox, they do not decimate shore breeding bird populations such as snowy plover. They are also fond of garbage and seem to do fairly well around the edges of built areas.

Brush Rabbit   The brush rabbit, Sylvalagus bachmanii, is the common brush bunny of the Santa Cruz area. Smaller that the Audobon's Cottontail it prefers the bush country of our coast ranges. The brush bunny is an herbivore - it eats mostly tender young shoots (when it can get them) and it lives on the greens because it carries bacteria that digest the cellulose in its hind gut. To get the benefits of the digestion done by the bacteria the bunny eats its own feces every night, digests the bacteria too, and then absorbs the nutrients as they pass through the second time, fullly digested.

Our Woodrat, Neotome fuscipes, has relatives in our desert that we call packrats. These are rodents but are not closely related to the introduced black and Norway rats that have caused humans so much trouble over the centuries. The wood and pack rats build large nests of branches (including cactus where it is available) that are shared by the rats, passing through the generations from mother to daughter.

This species list is derived from student field studies and from species expected to occur at YLR, according to the Wildlife Habitats Relationship database of the California Department of Fish and Game. We have omitted species that, although they might possibly occur, are unlikely due to reserve size, isolation or habitat availability. We have included all the bats and omitted marine mammals. The list is organized according to taxonomic classification in the following format:

FAMILY

Common Name Scientific name, code

MAMMALS

DIDELPHIDAE

Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana, X

SORICIDAE

Vagrant Shrew Sorex vagrans, X*

Ornate Shrew Sorex ornatus

Trowbridge's Shrew Sorex trowbridgii

TALPIDAE

Broad-footed Mole Scapanus latimanus

VESPERTILIONIDAE

Yuma Myotis Myotis yumanensis, X*

Long-eared Myotis Myotis evotis

Fringed Myotis Myotis thysanodes

Long-legged Myotis Myotis volans

California Myotis Myotis californicus

Western Pipistrelle Pipistrellus hesperus

Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus

Red Bat Lasiurus cinereus

Townsend's Big-eared Bat Plecotus townsendii

Pallid Bat Antrozous pallidus

MOLOSSIDAE

Brazilian Free-tailed Bat Tadarida brasiliensis

Western Mastiff Bat Eumops perotis

LEPORIDAE

Brush Rabbit Sylvilagus bachmani, X

SCIURIDAE

California Ground Squirrel Spermophilus beecheyi, X

GEOMYIDAE

Botta's Pocket Gopher Thomomys bottae, X

CRICETIDAE

Western Harvest Mouse Reithrodontomys megalotis, X

Deer Mouse Peromyscus maniculatus, X

Pinyon Mouse Peromyscus truei

Dusky-footed Woodrat Neotoma fuscipes, X

California Vole Microtus californicus, X

MURIDAE

Norway Rat Rattus norvegicus, X,E

House Mouse Mus musculus, X,E

CANIDAE

Coyote Canis latrans, X

Red Fox Vulpes vulpes, ?,E

Common Gray Fox Urocyon cinereoargenteus, X

PROCYONIDAE

Common Raccoon Procyon lotor, X

MUSTELIDAE

Long-tailed Weasel Mustela frenata, X

American Badger Taxidea taxus

Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis, X

FELIDAE

Mountain Lion Felis concolor, ?

Bobcat Felis rufus, X

SUIDAE

Feral Pig (Wild Pig) Sus scrofa, E

CERVIDAE

Mule Deer Odocoileus hemionus, X

code:
X = CONFIRMED BY SURVEYS BY SIGHTING, TRAPPING, PHOTO STATION, TRACKS OR SIGN

X* = SHREW NOT IDENTIFIED TO SPECIES, BATS WERE SIGHTED FLYING, NO POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION

E = EXOTIC SPECIES, TO BE KEPT OUT

? = REPORTED CASUAL SIGHTING

Exotic Species

Red Fox The Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, is an exotic, non-native species that has been reported at Younger Lagoon. It is considered a threat in this area because it hunts ground nesting birds that have not adapted to live where there are such predators. The Red Fox is slowly replacing the native Gray Fox in many areas, due largely to the effects of human activities.

Mail comments to fusari@ucsc.edu