The dens provide three important benefits: protection from predators, a buffer against extreme temperatures, and a place for food storage. Some packrat dens are very large, reaching a height of 6.5 feet (2 meters) or more. Some packrats take advantage of crevices in rocks or caves to find shelter. Many species of packrat obtain all their water from the plant materials they consume.Īlmost all packrats construct dens, whether they are made of sticks, plant materials, rocks, bones, dung, or other materials. They have two critical requirements: the presence of succulent plants for food, and adequate shelter. Thus we can assume that those animals living during previous epochs were similar to what we observe currently.ĭifferent species of packrats live at various elevations, from spruce-fir forests at high elevations in their northern limits, to low deserts at the southern limits of their distribution. Packrats have very long whiskers and a whitish or light colored neck and breast area.īecause packrat species are still thriving today, we know a lot about their ecology. How do you tell a "city rat", or Old World rat, from a packrat or woodrat? Packrats' tails are not naked and scaly like a city rat.
Packrats (also called trade rats or woodrats) have a rat-like appearance, with large ears, long tails and large black eyes.
This preserves the fossilized record of plant remains, and has provided scientists with a window into past communities of plants and animals in a particular area. Over time the urine then crystallizes almost like amber. These animals excrete copious amount of urine, normally in one spot or "post" in the den, which also serves as a scent mark to identify their territory. Packrats create middens in their dens because they tend to urinate with very viscous urine over their garbage piles, and the urine acts as a preservative which solidifies the mass, especially in arid environments. The term "midden" is an archaeological term that refers to a heap of garbage or trash left behind by former occupants. Since some packrat middens are as old as 40,000 years, they function as biological time capsules, preserving fossil examples of representative plants, pollen, and even animal bones from Pleistocene communities. Because of their habits, packrats provide paleontologists with critical clues about past climates, especially in dry western North America.
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