Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Desert Cottontail
RINGTAIL
Also known as miner's cats or Ringtail cats, Ringtails are not cats at all,
but relatives of the raccoon. They have foxlike faces, with big, round, dark eyes,
but their most conspicuous feature is their long, bushy, black-and-white tail. The
Ringtail is usually about 30 inches long, and often more than half of that length is
tail. Although common in Zion and present, although not in abundance, at Bryce
Canyon, Ringtails are seldom seen because they sleep all day in caves or other quiet
places and emerge only after dark, when their super-sharp claws and catlike agility
enable them to catch rodents, small mammals, birds, and insects. They are also not
above raiding campsites. Ringtails got the nickname “miner's cats” because, in the
late 1800s and early 1900s, they were taken into mines, where they quickly elimin-
ated the mouse and rat populations.
