Bushy-tailed Wood Rat
Neotoma cinerea
Summary 6
The bushy-tailed woodrat, packrat, or woodrat (Neotoma cinerea) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in Canada and the United States. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, temperate forests, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland.
Description 7
Bushy-tailed Woodrats are highly territorial. A male will permit a female in his territory, but not another male. Both males and females mark their territories with a musky substance that can leave both scent and white color on rock ridges. The Woodrats make piles of vegetation and various collected items, and these materials can accumulate into middens of substantial size. The animals defecate and urinate on some of them, and those that bake in the sun can become rock-hard and last for tens of thousands of years. Paleobotanists using information from ancient middens have gained tremendous insight into the botanical history of the vast arid areas inhabited by woodrats.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Sources and Credits
- (c) 2014 University of California Museum of Paleontology, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=623819&one=T
- (c) 1999 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=507&one=T
- (c) 2014 University of California Museum of Paleontology, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=623818&one=T
- (c) latraydean, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
- (c) Picasa, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AvVwbgSOzNM/SL4Xzn-MrVI/AAAAAAAAFG4/udwPpRTD8tM/DSC02323.JPG
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neotoma_cinerea
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6625210
