Allegheny woodrat

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Allegheny Woodrat
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Genus: Neotoma
Subgenus: Neotoma
Species: N. magister
Binomial name
Neotoma magister
Baird, 1857
Allegheny Woodrat range
Allegheny Woodrat range

The Allegheny woodrat, Neotoma magister, also is a species of "pack rat" in the genus Neotoma. Once believed to be a subspecies of the Eastern Woodrat or Florida Woodrat, Neotoma floridana it is now known, through evidence of extensive DNA analysis, to be a distinct species.[2]

Contents

[edit] Description

The Allegheny woodrat is a medium-sized rodent that is particularly handsome in appearance resembling more of an over sized White-footed Mouse than the Norway Rat. It is the second largest member of the native North American rats and weighs up to a pound, roughly the size of a grey squirrel. An adult woodrat ranges about 15 to 18 inches in length whereas 7 to 8 inches of this is tail. The fur is long, soft, and brownish-grey or cinnamon in color, while the undersides and feet are white. They have large eyes, naked ears and long whiskers. Its most distinguishing feature is its tail. While the tails of European rats are naked with only slightly visible hairs, the woodrat's tail is completely furred with hairs about one-third of an inch long and predominantly black above and white beneath.



[edit] Habitat

The Allegheny Woodrat prefers rocky outcrops associated with mountain ridges such as cliffs, caves, talus slopes, and even mines. The surrounding forest is usually deciduous. [3]

[edit] Diet

The Allegheny Woodrat's diet primarily consists of plant materials including buds, leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, acorns and other nuts. They store their food in caches and eat about five percent of their body weight a day. [4]

[edit] Life History

Nocturnal, the Allegheny Woodrat spends its nights foraging, collecting food and nesting materials, very rarely traveling more than 150 feet from its home range. They also collect and store various non-food items such as bottle caps, snail shells, coins, gun cartridges, feathers and bones. This trait is responsible for the nicknake "trade" or "pack rat". [5] These rats form small colonies in which their nesting areas consist of a network of underground runways and many conspicuous latrines. Latrines are large fecal piles the rats deposit on protected flat rocks. [6] In some cases, researchers have found dried leaves placed around the nesting area which appear to act as alarms to warn the rats of approaching danger. [7]

Unlike their cousins, the Allegheny Woodrat is not a prolific breeder, averaging only one to three young per litter and up to only three litters per year under ideal conditions. Their gestation period is usually 30 to 37 days and are weaned within a month's time. In the wild, the Allegheny Woodrat has been known to live up to three years.[8]

[edit] Predators

Predators include owls, skunks, weasels, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, large snakes, and humans. At one point, the Allegheny rat was hunted for food and sometimes killed due to false identification based on its resemblance of more problematic European rats. [9]


[edit] Distribution and Status

Distribution mainly occurs along the Appalachian Mountain range. Historically found as far north as Connecticut which it is now extinct from, southeastern New York (near extinct), northern New Jersey, and northern Pennsylvania southwestward through western Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, northern and western Virginia to northeastern Alabama and northwestern North Carolina with isolated populations north of the Ohio River in southern Ohio and southern Indiana. The Tennessee River is generally accepted as the southern range limit. [10]

Although the Allegheny Woodrat is not federally listed, it is in major decline and is state listed.

State Status
AL Threatened
CT Extirpated - extinct - special concern
GA Threatened
IN Endangered
KY Apparently Secure
MD Endangered
MA Expirated - extinct
NC Endangered
NJ Endangered
NY Endangered
OH Endangered
PA Threatened
TN Threatened
VA Threatened
WV Threatened

[11] [12]

[edit] Causes of Decline and Management

The Allegheny Woodrat population has been in damatic decline over the past 30 years, especially in the northern part of the range causing much concern about their future. They have been extipated from Connecticut, New York and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The reasons for the decline is not yet entirely understood but is believed to be caused by a combination of factors. The raccoon is notoriously well adapted to most environmental change making them the perfect candidate to live near human settlements. Because of this they have thrived causing competition over food in which the raccoon leaves behind in its droppings. The rat then consumes the seeds and plant material from the raccoon feces resulting in an increase in parasitism by the raccoon roundworm, Baylisascaris procyonis, which is almost always fatal.[13]

Gypsy moth defoliation of hardwood trees along the Allegheny Front near Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania in July of 2007.
Gypsy moth defoliation of hardwood trees along the Allegheny Front near Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania in July of 2007.

Another cause may have been the American Chestnut Blight and gypsy moth invasion causing severe defoliation and habitat deficiencies creating insurmountable barriers in the woodrat's environment. Increased human disturbance also causes fragmentation and destruction of the woodrat's habitat. When a nesting site becomes unsuitable, these small colonies must move to a new home. Now the rats must cross valleys, open fields, highways, or suburbs where there is little to no cover or food but plenty of predators with little chance of survival.[14]

It appears management is seen as a lot priority until the causes of the decline are more securely established.

Indiana's Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program currently monitors status, distribution and population. They are also conducting field searches for new localities and research to identify the factors for decline.[15]

New Jersey's Division of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program supported research by Kathleen LoGiudice. She developed a drug to be distributed through bait that the raccoons would eat, disrupting the growth and shedding of the roundworm parasite for about 3 weeks, effectively reducing the disposition of roundworm eggs near woodrat nesting sites and therefore reducing the threat of the parasite in woodrats.[16]

Pennsylvania is conducting a 3 year study partially funded by a Game and Commission State Wildlife Grant and being led by Indiana University of Pennsylvania in an attempt to shed light on the daily and seasonal movements of woodrats, identify high quality woodrat habitat, and learn whether providing food caches can boost a population. Their work will include radio-telemetry, DNA profiling and mark-recapture trapping.[17]

Maryland's Dept. of Natural Resources conduct rappings and surveys to study the Woodrat's habitat.[18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species"
  2. ^ "natureserv"
  3. ^ "Pennsylvania Game Commission"
  4. ^ "Indiana Devision of Fish and Wildlife"
  5. ^ "Indiana Devision of Fish and Wildlife"
  6. ^ "Pennsylvania Game Commission"
  7. ^ " NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation"
  8. ^ " NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation"
  9. ^ " NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation"
  10. ^ "natureserv"
  11. ^ "natureserv"
  12. ^ "Team Woodrat status"
  13. ^ "Allegheny Woodrat in Alabama"
  14. ^ "A Rocky Existence"
  15. ^ "Indiana Devision of Fish and Wildlife"
  16. ^ "Allegheny Woodrat - New Jersey"
  17. ^ "A Rocky Existence"
  18. ^ "In Pursuit of the Allegheny Woodrat"


[edit] External links