Happy Year of the Rat!

It's the Chinese New Year of the Rat.

"Oh rats!" "You dirty rat!" Sometimes rats get a bad rap, but many folks love them, with pet rats as beloved members of the family. In honor of Year of the Rat, here are some mousings, er musings on rats:

Woodrats or packrats used to be abundant in southern New England. They are cute rodents with bushy tails and tales to tell. Packrat middens are windows into the past giving paleontologists evidence of past climates and anthropologists information on past peoples. Woodrats will collect almost anything! Nests today contain beer cans, keys and other accouterments of modern life.

The Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister) is our nearest native rat. It currently lives in 12 states, is listed as Endangered, Threatened or otherwise jeopardized in 9 of them, and has been "extirpated" from NY, CT and MA . It needs remote, rocky habitats (caves, boulder piles, outcroppings etc.) with deep hiding places. http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/wildlife/notes/pdf/woodrat.pdf

Woodrats or pack rats:
~Numerous species, genus Neotoma
~Found around N. America, largely in the West (range varies w/species)
~Distinguished from Old World rats (Rattus), by furry tail and pale throat/chest.
~Build above-ground houses of natural and human debris (plant parts, manure, trash etc.), often sheltered by rocks or large plants. Houses provide shelter from temperature extremes, predators. Said to defend territory from other rats.
~Said to steal buiding materials from human dwellings, cars
~Largely herbivorous. Desert species get all water from eating succulent plants
~Nocturnal; preyed on by owls, snakes + night mammals

We have no native rats in Maine, but many stowaway rats from ships have populated the state. (and not just in Augusta) Norway and Black Rats have spread around the globe as stowaways with traveling humans. Both live in territorial colonies with internal hierarchies of dominance. Black Rats are great climbers, Norway Rats are excellent swimmers. It's the Norway Rat that is bred for pets.

Thanks to Museum Rat Pack member Sasha Ratfish Paris for providing this information!
The Dorr Museum of Natural History