The desert woodrat (''Neotoma lepida'') is a species of
pack rat
A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...
native to desert regions of western
North America.
Description
Desert woodrats are relatively small for pack rats, measuring in length, including a tail. They weigh from , with males being larger than females. Their coloring varies between individuals, and can be anything from pale gray to cinnamon to near-black. Regardless of the color on the rest of the body, however, the animal's underparts and feet are always white, while the otherwise pale fur on the throat region is gray at its base. The tail is distinctly bicolored, and has more hair, and fewer visible scales, than the tails of
brown rat
The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...
s. Desert woodrats have a narrow snout, long whiskers, and relatively long ears that are almost the length of the hind feet.
Distribution and habitat
Desert woodrats range from southeastern
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
and southwestern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
, south through
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
and western
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
in the
US, and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
and extreme northwestern
Sonora in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
.
[ They are generally found in sagebrush scrub areas, in chaparral, and in deserts and rocky slopes with scattered cactus, ]yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...
, pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...
/juniper, and other low vegetation, at elevations up to .[ They are most abundant in rocky areas with numerous crevices or rock piles in which they can seek shelter from predators.]
Twenty three subspecies are recognised, many of them restricted to small islands in the Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...
.[
]
Biology
They feed on beans and leaves of mesquite
Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus '' Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas.
They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under gr ...
, on juniper, and on parts of available cacti, apparently without getting injured by the spines. They also eat creosote bushes, thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...
s, ''Ephedra Ephedra may refer to:
* Ephedra (medicine), a medicinal preparation from the plant ''Ephedra sinica''
* ''Ephedra'' (plant), genus of gymnosperm shrubs
See also
* Ephedrine
Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is of ...
'', Mustard plants, sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an al ...
, and buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagopy ...
. They will also eat other green vegetation, seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s, fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
s, acorns, and pine nut
Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trad ...
s. In desert habitats, they are highly dependent upon prickly pear cacti for water balance, although they can be sustained on creosote year-round.[ Although they are capable of eating food containing high levels of resins and oxalic acid, such as the leaves of creosote bushes,] these affect their water balance and limit their ability to eat other foods, limiting the growth of the woodrats' population in areas where such plants are common.
Predators include snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...
s, owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
s, hawks, coyotes, fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
es, weasel
Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender b ...
s, and other carnivorous mammals. They are also commonly parasitized by bot fly larvae.
Desert woodrats breed in the spring and summer, and give birth to litters of up to five young after a gestation period of 30 to 36 days. The young weigh about at birth, and are blind, with only the tips of their hairs visible. Their eyes open after about ten days. The teeth of newborn desert woodrats are initially splayed apart, creating a hexagonal opening between them, with which they clamp themselves to their mother's teats so firmly that they are difficult to separate. The teeth achieve their normal shape after about twelve days, but the young are not completely weaned until around four weeks of age.[ They live up to five years in captivity.]
Behavior
Desert woodrats are primarily nocturnal and are aggressively solitary. They may defend water sources, such as succulent plants, against other species, and perhaps prevent other species from obtaining water during droughts.
Desert woodrats sometimes appropriate the burrows of ground squirrel
Ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents ( Sciuridae), which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known ...
s or kangaroo rat
Kangaroo rats, small mostly nocturnal rodents of genus ''Dipodomys'', are native to arid areas of western North America. The common name derives from their bipedal form. They hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, but developed t ...
s, and will fortify the entrance with several cubic metres of sticks and joints collected from jumping
Jumping or leaping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotics, robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jumping can be distinguished from running, gallo ...
and teddy-bear cholla
''Cylindropuntia bigelovii'', the teddy-bear cholla ''(choy-ya''), is a Cylindropuntia, cholla cactus species native to Northwestern Mexico, and to the United States in California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Description
''Cylindropuntia bigelovii'' ...
s. This provides a formidable defense against predators. Living quarters are also often built against rock crevices, at the base of creosote or cactus plants, or in the lower branches of trees.[ Rock crevices appear preferred where available, but pack rats generally adapt to any situation.
]
Woodrats construct houses for nesting, food caching, and predator escape. These can have up to six entrances and eight internal chambers, including both nests and food caches. Houses high and around across at the base are not unusual.[ Nests are constructed of dried vegetation, usually fibrous grass parts or shredded stems.
Males mark their territory by rubbing themselves on the ground, depositing musky ]sebum
A sebaceous gland is a microscopic exocrine gland in the skin that opens into a hair follicle to secrete an oily or waxy matter, called sebum, which lubricates the hair and skin of mammals. In humans, sebaceous glands occur in the greatest nu ...
secreted by large sebaceous gland
A sebaceous gland is a microscopic exocrine gland in the skin that opens into a hair follicle to secrete an oily or waxy matter, called sebum, which lubricates the hair and skin of mammals. In humans, sebaceous glands occur in the greatest nu ...
s on their abdomen. Females, however, scent mark by first digging, and then rubbing their flanks, legs or cheeks on the excavated soil. They are active year-round.
References
Desert woodrat
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1769190
Mammals of the United States
Neotoma
North American desert fauna
Fauna of the Mojave Desert
Fauna of the Sonoran Desert
Mammals described in 1893
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas