Do you know the official Arizona State mammal?

Arizona has an official state flower (Saguaro blossom), bird (Cactus Wren) and even a state mammal - the Ringtail - often called a ringtail cat because of its cat like features.

The above photo is a rare site.  Ringtails are common, but also nocturnal and usually very secretive.   Since ringtails are omnivores whose diet includes pack rats, we occasionally trap a ringtail when we are are trapping pack rats.  Since we use live catch traps, the ringtails are unharmed and always released.  The ringtail above was trapped at a pack rat entry point in an attic.  When released, she quickly climbed a tree and posed for a picture.

Ringtails are actually part of the coon family, as you can tell by the tail.  To learn more about ringtails you may want to check out these links:

Desert Museum fact-sheet Ringtail

Wikipedia - Ring-tailed cat

Unlike pest control companies, Mr. Pack Rat has a special use permit from Arizona Game & Fish to be able to legally trap ringtails and other select wildlife.

We may only see 1-2 ringtails a year.  The most interesting situation was ringtail in the library of Catalina Foothills High School.  It sneaked in when the janitors left the back door open while cleaning.  When something got into the librarian's lunch left overnight, the school suspected a pack rat.  Turned out to be a ringtail which was living under an interior book drop. The ringtail was trapped and released just outside the library.  

The most recent ringtail we caught was at Canyon Ranch in an power equipment room with four walls, but no roof.  The room is full of utility equipment where the year before a racoon actually caused a brown-out when it squeezed into hole on the side of a 480 volt breaker box.  The racoon did not survive.  The hole was sealed, but the resort did not want to take a chance when evidence of another critter appeared and they called Mr. Pack Rat.  I determined from the scat, the animal was a ringtail.  It was safely trapped and in this case relocated in a designated wildlife area a few miles away.

What is even rarer than seeing a ringtail is hearing one.  Below is a short clip of a ringtail before release and you can see they not only have cat like features, they also sound somewhat like a cat. They are truly amazing creatures. You can also see they do not like to be in a cage and it always gives me great joy to set them free.