A Ring-tailed Cat was seen this week - a rare sighting on the Mendonoma Coast

Charlie Ivor called to tell me he had seen a Ring-tailed Cat at dusk this past week. It was eating an apple that Charlie had tossed over the fence for the Deer. I have only had three or four sightings of a Ringtail, Bassariscus astutus, in the past seven years, so you can see it is a rare sighting.

Amy Borge has had a family of Ringtails living in her wood box. Amy sent in several photos and one is of a baby as you will see below.

Below is an adult in Amy's wood box.

And here's a Ringtail that got caught in a Have-a-Heart trap and photographed by Frank Aszklar. It was then let go.

Ringtails are shy creatures. They are good mousers and it's said they can be tamed. They are related to Raccoons. Below is a map that shows where in the world you can hope to see one of these exotic-looking creatures.

Thanks to Amy and Fran for sharing their photos with us here.