The big-eared woodrat (Neotoma macrotis) is a nocturnal rodent endemic to North America. It can be found all the way from the Salinas Valley south to northern Baja California.
One is not likely to actually see the elusive woodrat in Mission Trails, however their nests are commonly found along the trails.
As a herbivore, the diet consists mostly of tree bark and foliage of the coast live oak, thus the nests are often found near these trees. They eat many types of flora and fauna like poison oak, toyon, chamise, willow, manzanita, grass, sticky monkey flower, sage, insects, and mushrooms.
Visitors might wince at the thought of a rodent that resembles a roof rat; however, woodrats are of another genus and are behaviorally and biologically different, with hairier tails and larger eyes, ears, bodies, and tails. The nest looks like a large messy dome of twigs and branches, two to eight feet high, and easily blends in with the surroundings. Inside the nest, the woodrat meticulously arranges and adds to the numerous compartments and corridors with separate chambers for food, sleeping, lounging, and even a latrine out the back door.
Woodrats are solitary creatures, and promptly run off their offspring after about two months of age. The offspring then build their nests nearby, but one will eventually inherit the mother’s house and continue adding to its size.
Other creatures such as lizards, bugs and spiders can move into the nest undisturbed. The nest has numerous openings for easy escape from predators like snakes, however the woodrat does not wander far since its nocturnal predators include coyotes, foxes, skunks, bobcats, hawks and especially owls.
It is said that the Kumeyaay people captured the woodrats for protein to eat with the acorn mush, shawii. One person on one side of the nest would beat on the nest until a woodrat ran out, and someone else would wait at the nest’s exit and strike it. Since woodrats are clean herbivores, they would add a pleasant, earthy taste to shawii and stews!
Woodrats are also known as packrats or trade rats, because they are particularly fond of random items like bottle caps, feathers, paper, bones, plastics, and shiny trinkets. They will drop whatever twig they are carrying and trade it for the new item to carry back to the nest. Once collected, the woodrat will urinate on everything to claim ownership. The urine crystalizes and serves to cement everything in place. This also provides for a cool microclimate, so that the woodrats survival can be secured during climate change. Urban development is more likely than climate change to displace the woodrat.
As much as one may not like to anthropomorphize wildlife, the MTRP gift shop sells a stuffed animal depicting a woodrat wearing a backpack to stash its treasures, and a children’s book about Mr. Packrat. Both are good for a chuckle.
Editor’s note: Nora Balbina Bodrian is a trail guide with Mission Trails Regional Park.
Photo credit: Crystal Spaulding CC-by-NC.
