• The muskrat is semi-aquatic.
• The main threats are hunting and changes to water bodies.

The muskrat inhabits swamps and marshes, on land and in terrestrial forests, with an elevation above sea level potentially reaching up to 1.5 km. The species is found in temperate mixed forests where the summer is warm and there are many oaks, birches, and maples, as well as in flooded meadows with abundant grass, and in taiga with a cold winter and an abundance of spruce and pine. The climate in the muskrat's habitat is characterized by constant humidity and frequent rains, with summers potentially being cool and rainy, and winters snowy, or summers warm and rainy, and winters not very cold.