A large rodent that lives in wetlands and waterways in North America, with a musky smell and a flat tail.
From Algonquian languages (Powhatan 'musquash'), combined with English 'rat.' The word is a hybrid of indigenous language and English, showing early colonial contact and resource naming.
Muskrats are engineering geniuses—they build elaborate lodges like beavers but from cattails and mud, and they can hold their breath for 17 minutes, making them perfectly adapted aquatic architects.
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