dusky-footed woodrat house ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon

dusky-footed woodrat house
Neotoma fuscipes

Thanks to my previous unknown nest or den post and Flickr commenters, I've learned these massive twig structures are not merely haphazard collections of twigs. Now, I recognize dusky-footed woodrat houses everywhere. Apparently, some groups even have up to 3-15 houses with different purposed chambers, such as nesting, latrines, and storing food and collected treasures. Did you know they're also called packrats? Ah, so that's where the term comes from. I know some people who are packrats, eh-hem. Google images to find more pictures of these stick houses; they can also be found under the name Neotoma macrotis (don't know what that's about). And, for a much better blog post about dusky-footed woodrats than I could ever do, check out The Nature of a Man.

ps 07/06/11 ~ For another species, desert woodrat (N. bryanti) and its middens , check out The Nature of a Man's east Mojave trip.

pss 02/15/12 - I removed the The Davidson College Biology embedded links, which were very informative, but is now unavailable. I suspect the professor either retired or moved to another university.