| Bushy-tailed Woodrats are highly territorial. A male will permit a female in his territory, but not another male. Both males and females mark their territories with a musky substance that can leave both scent and white color on rock ridges. The Woodrats make piles of vegetation and various collected items, and these materials can accumulate into middens of substantial size. The animals defecate and urinate on some of them, and those that bake in the sun can become rock-hard and last for tens of thousands of years. Paleobotanists using information from ancient middens have gained tremendous insight into the botanical history of the vast arid areas inhabited by woodrats.
Also known as:
379 mm males; 356 mm females
310-470 mm males; 272-410 mm females
337 g males; 275 g females
181-585 g males; 166-370 g females
Ord, G., 1815. "Zoology of North America", in Guthrie's Geography, 2nd American edition, pp. 291-361. [reprint Rhoads, S.N. Philadelphia, 1894], p. 292.
Mammal Species of the World
Mammalian Species, American Society of Mammalogists' species account
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