Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Soricomorpha > Talpidae > Desmana > Desmana moschataDesmana moschata (Russian Desman; Desman)Synonyms: Castor moschata (homotypic) The Russian desman (Desmana moschata) (Russian: выхухоль vykhukhol') is a small semiaquatic mammal that inhabits the Volga, Don and Ural River basins in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It constructs burrows into the banks of ponds and slow-moving streams, but prefers small, overgrown ponds with abundance of insects, crayfish and amphibians. The Russian desman often lives in small (usually not related) groups of two to five animals, and appears to have a complex (but largely unstudied) communication and social system. |
Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) ED Score: 26.53 EDGE Score: 4.7 |
| Gestation [3] | 37 days | | Litter Size [3] | 5 | | Litters / Year [3] | 2 | | Maximum Longevity [3] | 10 years | | Nocturnal [4] | Yes | | Snout to Vent Length [3] | 10 inches (25 cm) | | Water Biome [1] | Lakes and Ponds, Rivers and Streams |  | | Adult Weight [2] | 383 grams | | Birth Weight [3] | 22 grams | | | Diet [4] | Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore | | Diet - Ectothermic [4] | 20 % | | Diet - Fish [4] | 20 % | | Diet - Invertibrates [4] | 60 % | | Forages - Ground [4] | 100 % | | | Female Maturity [3] | 5 months 1 day |
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| Name |
Countries |
Ecozone |
Biome |
Species |
Report |
Climate |
Land
Use |
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Caspian lowland desert |
Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
 |
 |
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 |
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Central European mixed forests |
Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Moldovia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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 |
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East European forest steppe |
Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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Kazakh semi-desert |
Kazakhstan |
Palearctic |
Deserts and Xeric Shrublands |
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Kazakh steppe |
Russia, Kazakhstan |
Palearctic |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Pontic steppe |
Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine |
Palearctic |
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands |
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Sarmatic mixed forests |
Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden |
Palearctic |
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests |
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Scandinavian and Russian taiga |
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia |
Palearctic |
Boreal Forests/Taiga |
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| Name |
IUCN Category |
Area acres |
Location |
Species |
Website |
Climate |
Land Use |
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Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve Zapovednik |
Ia |
167827 |
Astrakhan, Russia |
|
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Chavash Varmane National Park |
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62271 |
Chuvash, Russia |
|
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Hopersky State Nature Reserve |
|
40031 |
Voronezh, Russia |
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Kaluzhskie Zaseki State Nature Reserve |
|
45796 |
Kaluga, Russia |
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Kerzhensky Biosphere Reserve |
|
115611 |
Nizhni Novgorod, Russia |
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Khopersky Zapovednik |
Ia |
47103 |
Russia |
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Khvalynsky National Park |
|
63046 |
Saratov, Russia |
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Mariya Chodra National Park |
|
90423 |
Mari El, Russia |
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Meschera National Park |
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293457 |
Vladimir, Russia |
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Meshchersky National Park |
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254553 |
Ryazan, Russia |
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Mordovsky Zapovednik |
Ia |
79439 |
Mordovia, Russia |
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Nurgush State Nature Reserve |
|
14624 |
Kirov, Russia |
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Oka Biosphere Reserve |
|
137746 |
Ryazan, Russia |
|
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Okskiy Biosphere Reserve |
|
190748 |
Russia |
|
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Orlovsky Polesie National Park |
|
192112 |
Orel, Russia |
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Plescheevo Lake National Park |
|
58786 |
Yaroslavl, Russia |
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Prioksko-Terrasny Biosphere Reserve |
IV |
12219 |
Moscow, Russia |
|
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Prisursky State Nature Reserve |
|
22605 |
Chuvash, Russia |
|
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Samarskaya Luka National Park |
|
314283 |
Samara, Russia |
|
|
|
|
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Ugra National Park |
|
243703 |
Kaluga, Russia |
|
|
|
|
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Voronezhskiy Biosphere Reserve |
|
95835 |
Russia |
|
|
|
|
|
Voroninsky State Nature Reserve |
|
25501 |
Tambov, Russia |
|
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Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org♦ 2Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Dawn M. Kaufman, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, and John P. Haskell. 2003. Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84:3403 ♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109 ♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027 ♦ 5International Flea Database♦ 6Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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