Allegheny woodrat facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Allegheny woodrat
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Neotoma
Species:	magister
Allegheny woodrat range
Synonyms
Neotoma floridana magister

The Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister) is a type of "pack rat" found in North America. For a long time, people thought it was just a kind of eastern woodrat. But after looking closely at its DNA, scientists found out it's actually its own special species.

About the Allegheny Woodrat

The Allegheny woodrat is a medium-sized rodent. It looks a lot like the eastern woodrat, but it's usually a bit bigger. It also often has longer whiskers.

Size and Weight

Adult woodrats are usually about 31 to 45 centimeters (about 12 to 18 inches) long. This includes their tail, which is about 15 to 21 centimeters (6 to 8 inches) long. Male woodrats weigh around 357 grams (about 12.6 ounces). Females are a little smaller, weighing about 337 grams (about 11.9 ounces).

It's the second-largest native rat in North America. It can weigh up to a pound, which is roughly the size of an eastern gray squirrel.

Fur and Features

Their fur is long, soft, and brownish-gray or cinnamon in color. Their bellies and feet are white. They have big eyes and ears that don't have much fur.

Their tails are a special feature. Unlike the tails of European rats, which are mostly bare, woodrat tails are completely covered in fur. The hairs are about one-third of an inch long. Their tails are usually black on top and white underneath.

Their whiskers are very long, often more than 5 centimeters (2 inches) long. Each side of their face has about 50 whiskers. These whiskers are a mix of stiff black hairs and softer white ones.

Where They Live and What They Eat

Allegheny woodrats like to live in rocky places. These include cliffs, caves, and slopes with lots of loose rocks. They can even be found in old mines. This is especially true in states like Pennsylvania and Maryland. In Virginia and West Virginia, they live on ridges and in rocky areas.

The forests around their homes are usually hardwood forests, meaning trees that lose their leaves in winter. They are often found in forests with a mix of pine and oak trees.

What's on the Menu?

Woodrats mainly eat plants. Their diet includes buds, leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, acorns, and other nuts. They are very good at storing food in hidden spots, called caches. They eat about 5% of their body weight each day.

Who Hunts Them?

Many animals hunt woodrats. These include owls, skunks, weasels, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, and large snakes. Humans also used to hunt them for food. Sometimes, woodrats were killed by mistake because they look like other types of rats that cause problems.

How They Behave

Allegheny woodrats are nocturnal, which means they are active at night. They spend their nights looking for food and materials to build their nests. They are busiest right after sunset and again just before sunrise.

Home Sweet Home

In the summer, male woodrats roam over an area of about 6.5 hectares (about 16 acres). Females have smaller areas, about 2.5 hectares (about 6 acres). But in late fall and winter, when food is harder to find, their home areas shrink a lot. They might only use an area as small as 0.65 hectares (about 1.6 acres). During these times, they rely on the food they stored earlier.

Woodrats are generally not friendly with each other. They often fight, especially over good places to build nests. Even if their home areas overlap, each woodrat strongly protects its own den. They are usually quiet animals. But in captivity, they have been heard making "squeaking" and "whimpering" sounds.

They usually don't travel far from their homes, only a few hundred feet at most.

Pack Rat Habits

Woodrats are famous for collecting and storing all sorts of things that aren't food. They might pick up bottle caps, snail shells, coins, old bullet casings, feathers, and bones. This habit is why they are nicknamed "trade rat" or "pack rat".

These rats live in small groups. Their nesting areas are like a network of underground tunnels. They also have many noticeable latrines. A latrine is a large pile of droppings that the rats leave on flat, protected rocks. Sometimes, researchers have found dried leaves around their nests. These leaves seem to act like an alarm system, warning the rats if danger is coming.

Both male and female woodrats also mark objects around their home areas with a special scent. They have a scent gland on their bellies. This gland becomes very noticeable during the breeding season and is said to produce a strong smell.

Having Babies

Unlike many other rodents, Allegheny woodrats don't have a lot of babies very often. Their breeding season changes depending on where they live, but it's generally between March and October. They usually have two or three litters of babies each year.

Baby Woodrats

A mother woodrat is pregnant for 30 to 36 days. Then she gives birth to one to four young, but usually two.

When they are born, the babies are hairless and blind. They weigh about 15 to 17 grams (about half an ounce). They grow fur when they are two weeks old and open their eyes at three weeks. They stay with their mothers in nests made of grass, bark, and similar materials. These nests are often in hard-to-reach cracks or ledges.

Allegheny woodrats can start having their own babies when they are three to four months old. In the wild, they have been known to live for up to 58 months, which is almost five years.

Where They Are Found and Their Status

Allegheny woodrats mostly live along the Appalachian Mountains. In the past, they were found as far north as Connecticut and Massachusetts (where they are now gone). They were also in southeastern New York (gone), northern New Jersey, and northern Pennsylvania. From there, they spread southwest through western Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts of Virginia. They also lived in northeastern Alabama and northwestern North Carolina. Some groups were found north of the Ohio River in southern Ohio (gone) and southern Indiana (reintroduced). The Tennessee River is generally considered their southern border. There are no different types of Allegheny woodrats recognized. Scientists have found fossils of this species from long ago in Maryland and West Virginia.

Even though the Allegheny woodrat is not officially listed as threatened or endangered by the US government, its numbers are dropping. Many states have listed it as threatened or endangered.

Why Their Numbers Are Dropping and What's Being Done

In some areas, like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the number of Allegheny woodrats has been going down for the past 30 years. They have completely disappeared from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Reasons for Decline

Scientists don't fully understand why their numbers are dropping, but they think it's a mix of different things.

• Raccoon Roundworm: One big problem is a tiny worm carried by raccoons, called Baylisascaris procyonis. This worm is almost always deadly to woodrats. Raccoons are good at living in different places, and they have been doing very well in woodrat habitats. This means more woodrats are getting infected by the worm.
• Food Shortages: Another reason is the loss of important food sources. Many American chestnut trees died because of a disease called chestnut blight. Also, gypsy moths have eaten the leaves off many oak trees. This means fewer acorns are available for the woodrats.
• Competition: There's also more competition for acorns from too many white-tailed deer. Growing numbers of black bears and turkeys might also be affecting woodrat survival.
• Predators: Large birds like great horned owls also hunt woodrats.
• Human Impact: Finally, as humans build more homes and roads, it breaks up and destroys the woodrats' natural homes.

Helping the Woodrats

Many groups are working to help the Allegheny woodrat:

• Indiana: Indiana's wildlife program is watching the woodrats to see how many there are and where they live. They are also looking for new places where woodrats might live and trying to figure out why their numbers are going down.
• New Jersey: New Jersey's wildlife program supported research to find a way to help. A scientist developed a special medicine that raccoons could eat in bait. This medicine would stop the worm from growing and spreading for about three weeks. This helps reduce the number of worm eggs near woodrat nests, making it safer for the woodrats.
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania is doing a three-year study to learn more about how woodrats move around each day and during different seasons. They want to find good woodrat habitats and see if providing food can help their populations grow. They are using radio trackers, DNA tests, and trapping to study the woodrats.
• Maryland: Maryland's Department of Natural Resources has been trapping and surveying woodrats to study their habitats.
• Virginia: Researchers at the University of Georgia have been studying Allegheny woodrats in Virginia since 1990. They are currently looking at the DNA of woodrats. They are comparing modern DNA to old DNA from museum specimens to understand the genetic diversity of the species today.

See Also

Images for kids

• 

  Gypsy moths eating leaves off hardwood trees in Pennsylvania, July 2007. This might be one reason why woodrat numbers are going down.