They're everywhere New Mexico. Any good to eat?

I can't imagine that that an animal in good health would poison you, so if you're thinking about experimenting go for it.

I have a friend who has tried almost every type of animal/insect life he's come across. He's even gotten me to try a few things (earthworms, meal worms, grasshoppers, etc.). He's still alive and thriving.

UPDATE: AFAIK, the one commonly-encountered animal you must never eat is a salamander all of which are poisonous if eaten (as opposed to venomous, which inject poison into you if they bite you).

Others may know of more, and I'd be interested in knowing about them.

When I was going through Ranger school in the Army, they told us that any animal with hair is edible. Based on that, rock squirrels should be OK. The first rock squirrels I ever saw were at a town dump here in Utah, so I just never wanted to try them. I did enjoy hunting and eating the fox and gray squirrels when I lived in Kansas and Texas.

Dale, do you know of any birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians (other than salamanders) or fish that it's unsafe to eat?

I do not.

Around the US I think poisonous animals are rare. The blowfish is poisonous if not prepared properly. The cane toad in Australia and some tropical frogs are toxic. Monarch butterflies and their larvae are poisonous to birds, but I do not know if they would be toxic to humans. They are toxic because they live on milkweed which has poisonous sap. I am a geologist and do not know enough about biology to provide much information.

I hear that eating certain parts of seals, polar bears and huskies (pretend you're a polar explorer who has to eat his dogs to survive) - namely the liver are toxic - give you vitamin A poisoning.

What I read anyway - see here