Ringtails, State Mammal of Arizona

Ringtail bodies are cat-like in their adult length of 12-17 inches (30-40 centimeters) and their Siamese-style buff to dark brown coloring. Their faces are fox-like in their snouts. Their tails are raccoon-like, with 12-17 inches (30-42 centimeters) of 14-16 black-and-white rings. Their big, round eyes of darkest black, brown or purple look out from black-edged, white masks, the reverse of a raccoon. Their eyeshine upon emerging at dusk or nightfall shows up raccoon-like yellow or un-raccoon-like red.

Ringtails therefore alternate between sporting cat-, fox- and raccoon-like looks. But they also claim some features all their own. For example, they may be capable of:

• Climbing narrow passages by pressing both left feet on one wall and both right on the other;

• Reaching high places because of tree squirrel-like hind ankle joints which rotate 180°+;

• Reversing directions by cartwheeling;

• Ricocheting from side to side off huge passages and wide fissures.

Despite the above-mentioned hallmark achievements, ringtails usually occupy the same family of mammals as raccoons. They therefore share the same descent from the earliest procyonids of 16,000,000-18,000,000 years ago.

Some scientists nevertheless categorize ringtails into their own family. They do so on the basis of the ambulatory preferences of ringtails. Raccoons walk on the soles of their feet whereas ringtails never do so.

Spring through fall, ringtails devour as food sources:

• Arachnids (especially scorpions and spiders);
• Berries, fruits and plants (especially hackberries, mistletoe and persimmons);
• Centipedes;
• Insects (especially crickets and grasshoppers);
• Millipedes;
• Nectar.

Cultivators, gardeners and orchardists sometimes dread ringtail appearances during growing and harvesting seasons. The normally timid, well-behaved mammal may get a bit out of hand in orchards full of luscious fruit. Ringtails may suffer the consequences of such uncontrolled binge-eating by being mislabeled civet cats -- whose predilection for musky scent-spraying, random feces-dropping, and rooftop noise-making are unpopular with humankind -- to which they are related only distantly through mutual membership in the carnivorous order of mammals.

In winter, ringtails eat:

• Frogs and toads;

• Lizards and snakes;

• Mice and rats;

• North American buntings;

• Rabbits;

• Squirrels.

Viewing a ringtail pouncing upon prey is quite an experience. Once again, the normally courteous, reticent mammal kills by grasping their hibernal food source in an inescapable clasp and sinking sharp teeth into their prey's neck.

Year round, ringtails behave reclusively. They build isolated dens in:

• Empty buildings;

• House attics;

• Mine shafts;

• Rock crevices;

• Tree hollows.

They call the above-mentioned places home at altitudes of 4,593-9,514 feet (1,400-2,900 meters). At such higher elevations, they locate their homes within foraging, mating and sheltering ranges of 44-515 hectares (109-1,280 acres).

Ringtails experience year-round stress from predators. They must be ever vigilant against the hunger pangs of:

• Bobcats;

• Coyotes;

• Foxes;

• Hawks;

• Owls.

When chased or cornered, they will resort to:

• Barking;

• Chattering;

• Chirping;

• Clicking;

• Growling;

• Grunting;

• Hissing;

• Howling.

They yip in particular terror when cornered by hungry raccoons intent upon their favorite relatives for dinner.

Female ringtails breed once a year, in February or March. It there is during those two months when the female offers humankind chances for observing appearance and behavior. The female will be noticeably more graceful and petite than the male.

The father finds the mother-to-be food until she delivers. Gestation may take from 45 to 60 days. Delivery of live litters therefore tend to take place in May of June. Late winter through late spring or early summer therefore will be optimum times for viewing adult male ringtails.

A litter has a minimum of one new-born and a maximum of five. Cubs have birth weights of 0.88-1.06 ounces (25-30 grams). They mature to weights of 1.8-3.3 pounds (0.8-1.5 kilograms).

Ringtail cubs are dependent upon their mothers the first four months of life. They are especially vulnerable the first month of life since they are born blind and fur-less. They are weaned at the age of six months.

Cubs can leave the parental den and mate once they are weaned. They in fact reach sexual maturity at the age of 10 months. Mid-summer through mid-spring therefore will be convenient opportunities for witnessing cub learning experiences.

Ringtails are known to live 6-9 years in the wild. They can live 10 years longer in zoos or with families. In facilities or houses, they favor access to dark, dry, warm hideaways in addition to whatever is deemed by owners or staff as "ringtail space."

As pets, ringtails can be counted upon to emerge and evidence such enjoyable, helpful or informative behaviors as: 

• Controlling nuisance wildlife; 

• Grooming themselves; 

• Marking territory; 

• Playing with home-made or store-bought toys as well as with people.

The above-mentioned conduct in fact constitutes something which ringtails perfect over the course of 150+ years of interacting with humankind. Records of ringtails' charming alternation between friendliness and reticence go back to the memoirs of prospectors and settlers of:

• Central and northern Mexico;

• Southwestern United States of America.

Within the USA, ringtails specifically may be found in:

• Arizona;

• California;

• Colorado;

• Kansas;

• Nevada;

• New Mexico;

• Oklahoma;

• Oregon;

• Texas;

• Utah.

In Mexico, ringtails may be called either cacomixtle norteño or rintel. In the United States, they respond to the names:

• Marv cat;

• Miner's cat;

• Northern Cacomixtle;

• Ring-tailed cat;

• Ringtail cat.

The oldest ringtail fossils date back to the Miocene Age of about 5,300,000 to 23,000,000 years ago. They link to habitats in California, Nebraska and Nevada. Ringtails nevertheless remain since August 13, 1986, the official mammal of the Copper and Grand Canyon State and the reluctant icon of arid North America.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

ringtail, Piestewa Peak, Phoenix Mountain Reserve, south central Arizona: Robertbody at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squaw-ringtail-28112.jpg

painted male bunting (Passerina ciris): Doug Janson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Passerina_ciris-20090208.jpg

ringtail (Bassariscus astutus): Daniel Neal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bassariscus_astutus_(ringtail)-11297651994.jpg

Rodeo, Arizona/New Mexico border: Emerika, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bobcat_kitten_eating_rabbit_in_tree.jpg

ringtail cat: Pixelfugue, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En_Ring-tailed_Cat.jpg

Edward W. Nelson, Wild Animals of North America (1918), p. 562: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/wildanimalsofnor00nels/page/562/mode/1up; Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9727911; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLib), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/6217230506/

eingtail (Bassariscus astutus): Daniel Neal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bassariscus_astutus_(ringtail)-11297688323.jpg

F.E. Beddard, Mammalia (1902): Chapter XIII, page 429; In: S. F. Harmer and A. E. Shipley, eds., The Cambridge Natural History, vol. X: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1005812

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