Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Al­legheny woodrats, Neotoma mag­is­ter, live along the Ap­palachian Moun­tains of the United States. Since 1928, their dis­tri­b­u­tion has nar­rowed around this moun­tain range. Dense pop­u­la­tions of Al­legheny woodrats can be found on the Al­legheny Cum­ber­land Plateau in West Vir­ginia, Ten­nessee and Ken­tucky. (An­thony, 1928; Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Schwartz and Odum, 1957)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Al­legheny woodrats are com­monly found on steep rocky cliffs, in which they make their homes, as well as rocky ledges and crevices built into ex­posed rock above. They are ge­n­ear­lly found above 640 m in el­e­va­tion, though his­tor­i­cal re­gions place them in pied­mont (hilly) re­gions of lower el­e­va­tions. Al­legheny woodrats also in­habit areas with di­verse veg­e­ta­tion. (Bal­com and Yah­ner, 1996; Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Castle­berry, et al., 2002a; Castle­berry, et al., 2006)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  640 (low) m

  2099.74 (low) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Al­legheny woodrats have soft agouti fur that is brown­ish-gray to brown on their dor­sal side. Their un­der­side, in­clud­ing the throat and feed, is white. Their tail has a no­tice­able amount of fur, which is bi-col­ored and blends with the rest of the body. The ven­tral side of the tail is lighter in color than the dor­sal side. Ju­ve­niles have gray fur that be­comes browner as they ma­ture. Al­legheny woodrats also have long whiskers. Adult range from 203 to 444 g in mass and from 311 to 451 mm in length. The head of Al­legheny woodrats ap­pears sim­i­lar to that of a mouse and is not very pointed, due to au­di­tory bul­lae. Their eye sock­ets are "de­pressed" into the skull (Linzey, 1998). Al­legheny woodrats are also very sim­i­lar to east­ern woodrats, and the only dif­fer­ence be­tween the two is the pres­ence of the max­illo vomer­ine notch (skull struc­ture) in Al­legheny woodrats. (Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Kays and Wil­son, 2002; Linzey, 1998)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  203 to 444 g

  7.15 to 15.65 oz

• Range length

  311 to 451 mm

  12.24 to 17.76 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mat­ing sys­tems of Al­legheny woodrats have not been stud­ied in the wild. A cap­tive pair, how­ever, pro­vides some in­for­ma­tion about their mat­ing be­hav­iors. Dur­ing courtship, a male and fe­male "box," like kan­ga­roos, which can be vi­o­lent. They stand on their hind legs and brace them­selves with their tail while hit­ting each other with their front paws. Al­legheny woodrats are monog­a­mous for their sin­gle mat­ing ses­sion, but it is cur­rently un­known if they main­tain this monogamy. (Poole, 1940)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Al­legheny woodrats gen­er­ally breed dur­ing the early spring to late sum­mer, from March to Oc­to­ber. Some, how­ever, breed year-round due to mild win­ters and/or an abun­dance of food within their habi­tat. Fe­male Al­legheny woodrats have 1 to 2 pups in their first lit­ter. After their first sea­son, they av­er­age 3 pups per lit­ter, though they can have more than 4. Be­cause the fe­male only has 4 nip­ples, how­ever, sur­vival of pups in lit­ters of greater than 4 in­di­vid­u­als is lim­ited. Al­legheny woodrats have 2 to 3 lit­ters a year. The ges­ta­tion pe­riod of Al­legheny woodrats is 30 to 36 days. Pups are born blind, deaf, pink, and hair­less and weigh be­tween 14 and 17 g (av­er­age 15 g). Their in­cisors are not straight but rather form a di­a­mond shape where the top two meet the bot­tom two in­cisors. How­ever, their in­cisors straighten within 21 days after birth. Wean­ing be­gins around 17 days, when off­spring may begin to eat solid foods. Wean­ing ends around 21 days of age when the eyes are fully opened. By 24 days of age, most ju­ve­niles can suf­fi­ciently sus­tain them­selves but may re­main near the nest for a few ad­di­tional weeks. Ju­ve­niles be­come in­de­pen­dent be­tween 28 and 60 days of age. Fe­male Al­legheny woodrats are be­lieved to reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity around 3 to 4 months of age, and it is un­known if males ma­ture at the same age. (Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Linzey, 1998; Man­jerovic, et al., 2009; Men­gak, 2002; Poole, 1940)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Allegheny woodrats usuallly have 2 to 3 litters per year.

• Breeding season

  Mating of Allegheny woodrats usually occurs between March and October, though in some areas breeding can occur year-round.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 4

• Average number of offspring

  2.8

• Range gestation period

  30 to 36 days

• Range weaning age

  17 to 28 days

• Average weaning age

  21 days

• Range time to independence

  28 to 60 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 to 4 months

The ma­jor­ity of parental in­vest­ment of Al­legheny woodrats oc­curs be­fore birth. Fe­males make nests made of fi­brous ma­te­ri­als such as shred­ded bark of hem­lock, red cedar, bass­wood, and other trees, as well as rope, yarn, grasses, and oc­ca­sion­ally feath­ers. Nests are con­structed sim­i­lar to bird nests with coarser ma­te­ri­als on the out­side and softer ma­te­ri­als on the in­side. Prepa­ra­tion for birth con­sists of gath­er­ing food for the mother and even­tu­ally for the off­spring once weaned. Both males and fe­males gather food, though the male plays a very small role in the care of off­spring. After pups are born, the mother is the pri­mary care­taker, and she re­mains so until the pups are in­de­pen­dent. Pups are born com­pletely de­pen­dent on the mother for warmth, food, pro­tec­tion, and san­i­ta­tion. A fe­male nurses her pups until they are weaned. Ju­ve­nile learn­ing is in­di­rect; through con­sum­ing food in their mother's cache, ju­ve­niles learn what is op­ti­mal and safe to con­sume. (Poole, 1940)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The ex­pected lifes­pan of Al­legheny woodrats in the wild is 49 to 58 months. In cap­tiv­ity, their lifes­pan is about 48 months. (Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Linzey, 1998)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  49 to 58 months

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  48 (high) months

Be­hav­ior

Al­legheny woodrats are noc­tur­nal and soli­tary. They are known for their habit of col­lect­ing shiny and col­or­ful ob­jects, in­clud­ing an­thro­pogenic items such as china and spoons. They also col­lect rac­coon feces, which can in­clude eggs from the par­a­site Baylisas­caris pro­cy­o­nis. This par­a­site and other mem­bers of the same genus can in­fect and kill the woodrats. When Al­legheny woodrats take some­thing for their col­lec­tion, they oc­ca­sion­ally leave some­thing be­hind, like a pine cone, peb­ble, or nut. Al­legheny woodrats also cache food items. Caches are made with sticks in­stead of the fi­brous ma­te­ri­als they use for their nests. Al­legheny woodrats are sur­pris­ingly clean crea­tures, only defe­cat­ing in one area away from the nest. Defe­ca­tion sites are usu­ally lo­cated in an area with ample air­flow on a flat rock or a rock with a con­cave in­den­ta­tion. (Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Linzey, 1998; Poole, 1940)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• troglophilic
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

• Average territory size

  2060 m^2

Home Range

Al­legheny woodrats are soli­tary an­i­mals, and they do not ag­gres­sively de­fend a ter­ri­tory. How­ever, their hom­ing mech­a­nism is strong; they have been known to re­turn to their nest when re­lo­cated up to 403 m away. Be­cause their food sources are lo­cated only in cer­tain areas and are there­fore de­pleted quickly, mem­bers of this species may travel from 180 to 6,500 sq m each day. On av­er­age, Al­legheny woodrats travel 2,060 sq m daily. (Castle­berry, et al., 2006; Linzey, 1998)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Al­legheny woodrats have ex­cep­tional senses of hear­ing, sight, touch, and smell. They have big ears which can cap­ture sounds and de­tect the di­rec­tion from which the sound came. Al­legheny woodrats have large eyes and can see well even in the dark. A sim­i­lar species, east­ern woodrats (Neotoma flori­dana), can see red lights that many other an­i­mals can­not, and it is likely that Al­legheny woodrats can as well. Al­legheny woodrats have par­tic­u­larly long whiskers for ro­dents, and the longest whisker recorded was 9 cm in length. These long whiskers are sen­si­tive to touch and allow woodrats to feel their sur­round­ings. Whiskers help with nav­i­ga­tion of caves and crevasses and to de­tect nearby move­ment, alert­ing them to pos­si­ble dan­ger. Dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son, Al­legheny woodrats use elon­gated scent glands along the sides of their stom­achs to com­mu­ni­cate their lo­ca­tion to po­ten­tial mates. These glands se­crete an oily, smelly liq­uid. Woodrats drag their bod­ies across the ground to trans­fer the scent and mark their ter­ri­tory. (Poole, 1940; Zer­vanos and Davis, 1968)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• vibrations
• chemical

Food Habits

Al­legheny woodrats are pri­mar­ily her­bi­vores and eat a va­ri­ety plants, berries, fruits, and seeds. They have also been known to con­sume bats and in­sects on oc­ca­sion. Their diet mostly con­sists of fun­gus, and, at the peak of mush­room sea­son, fun­gus can make up more than 12% of their diet. The amount of mush­rooms eaten varies from re­gion to re­gion. Acorns are also very im­por­tant to Al­legheny woodrats, be­cause they are high in pro­tein, car­bo­hy­drates, fats, min­er­als, and vi­t­a­mins. (Castle­berry, et al., 2002b; Men­gak and Laerm, 2008; Poole, 1940)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore
  • granivore
  • lignivore
• mycophage

• Animal Foods
• mammals
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• roots and tubers
• wood, bark, or stems
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit
• flowers
• bryophytes
• lichens

• Other Foods
• fungus

• Foraging Behavior
• stores or caches food

Pre­da­tion

Al­legheny woodrats have many preda­tors, many of which are large and noc­tur­nal. Preda­tors in­clude great horned owls, bob­cats, striped skunks, gray foxes, east­ern spot­ted skunks, long tailed weasles as well as other snakes and owls. The fur of Al­legheny woodrats blends in with the for­est floor to help keep them hid­den from preda­tors while look­ing for food. (Linzey, 1998; Poole, 1940)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • great horned owls (Bubo virginianus)
  • bobcats (Lynx rufus)
  • striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis)
  • gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)
  • eastern spotted skunks (Spilogale putorius)
  • long tailed weasles (Mustela frenata)
  • snakes (Serpentes)
  • owls (Strigiformes)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Be­cause of their caching be­hav­iors, Al­legheny woodrats dis­perse spread seeds and spores. This species is host to many dif­fer­ent types of fleas (Or­cho­peas sex­den­ta­tus penn­syl­van­i­cus and Epite­dia cav­er­ni­cola), mites (Atri­cholae­laps glas­gowi), ticks (Ixodes woodi, Der­ma­cen­tor vari­abilis, and Ixodes au­gus­tus), round­worms (Baylisas­caris pro­cy­o­nis and Baylisas­caris proaber­rant), and bot­flies. The main threat for Al­legheny woodrats is from the species of ne­ma­tode Baylisas­caris proaber­rant, the eggs of which are found in rac­coon feces. Al­legheny woodrats col­lect rac­coon feces and be­come in­fected with this "fatal neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­ease." This par­a­site ap­pears to threaten the Al­legheny woodrat's pop­u­la­tion more-so than pre­da­tion. (Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Linzey, 1998; Parker, et al., 2009; Poole, 1940)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Al­legheny woodrats are not known to have any pos­i­tive im­pact on hu­mans. (Whitaker Jr. and Hamil­ton Jr., 1998)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

In cap­tiv­ity, Al­legheny woodrats eat a va­ri­ety of food that is found on farms or in gar­dens such as ap­ples, cab­bage, car­rots, cel­ery, grapes, toma­toes, corn, wheat, wild rice stalks, and white pota­toes. They may con­sume these items on agri­cul­tural land lo­cated in their habi­tat. Be­cause the pop­u­la­tion of Al­legheny woodrats is small com­pared to other pests, there is no con­sid­er­able eco­nomic cost to hu­mans, even with po­ten­tial dam­age of crops. (Poole, 1940)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Al­legheny woodrats are listed as "vul­ner­a­ble" on the IUCN Red List. How­ever, risk varies by state. In Ken­tucky pop­u­la­tions are sta­ble, but in Al­abama, Vir­ginia, and other states this species is threat­ened or vul­ner­a­ble. In North Car­olina, this species is now en­dan­gered. The ex­tinc­tion of Amer­i­can chest­nut and de­cline in oak trees may have con­tributed to the de­crease in the Al­legheny woodrat pop­u­la­tions. Habi­tat de­struc­tion has also con­tributed to de­cline in pop­u­la­tions in some areas. (Castle­berry and Laerm, 2008; Castle­berry, et al., 2006)

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Lind­sey Stanesa (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Gail Mc­Cormick (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff, Cather­ine Kent (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

An­thony, H. 1928. Field Book of North Amer­i­can Mam­mals. New York: The Knicker­bocker Press.

Bal­com, B., R. Yah­ner. 1996. Mi­cro­hab­i­tat and Land­scape Char­ac­ter­is­ticts As­sosi­ated with the Threat­ened Al­legheny Woodrat. Con­ser­va­tion Bi­ol­ogy, 10/2: 515-525.

Castle­berry, S., W. Ford, N. Castle­berry, P. Wood. 2002. Sum­mer Mi­cro­hab­i­tat Se­lec­tion by For­ag­ing Al­legheny Woodrats (Neotoma mag­is­ter) in a Man­aged For­est. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 147/1: 93-101.

Castle­berry, S., J. Laerm. 2008. Al­legheny Woodrat Neotoma mag­is­ter. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 89/4: 306-309.

Castle­berry, S., M. Men­gak, N. Castle­berry, W. Ford, P. Wood. 2002. Al­legheny Woodrat (Neotoma mag­is­ter) Food Habits in the Cen­tral Ap­pala­tions. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 147/1: 80-92.

Castle­berry, S., M. Men­gak, W. Ford. 2006. Neotoma mag­is­ter. Mam­malian Species, 789: 1-5.

Hamil­ton, W. 1943. Mam­mals of East­ern United States. New York: Com­stock Pub­lish­ing Com­pany.

Kays, R., D. Wil­son. 2002. Mam­mals of North Amer­ica. New Jer­sey: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Kin­law, A. 1995. Spi­lo­gale puto­rius. Mam­malian Species, 511: 1-7.

Linzey, D. 1998. The Mam­mals of Vir­ginia. Blacks­burg, Vir­ginia: The Mc­don­ald and Wood­ward Pub­lish­ing Com­pany.

Man­jerovic, M., P. Wood, J. Ed­wards. 2009. Mast and Weather In­flunces on Pop­u­la­tion Trends of a Species of Con­cern: the Al­legheny Woodrat. The Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist: An In­ter­na­tional Jour­nal of Ecol­ogy, Evo­lu­tion and En­vi­ron­ment, 162/1: 52-61.

Men­gak, M. 2002. Re­pro­duc­tion, Ju­vinile Growth and Re­cap­ture Rates of Al­legheny Woodrats (Neotoma mag­is­ter) in Vir­ginia. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 148/1: 155-162.

Men­gak, M., J. Laerm. 2008. East­ern Woodrat Neotoma flori­dana. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 89/4: 301-305.

Parker, W., R. Ger­hardt, L. Muller, N. Cald­well, S. Castle­berry, W. Ford. 2009. Ex­ter­nal Par­a­sites of Neotoma mag­is­ter Baird (Al­legheny Woodrat) in the Cum­ber­land Moun­tains and Plateau, Ten­nessee. South­east­ern Nat­u­ral­ist, 8/1: 167-174.

Poole, E. 1940. A Life His­tory Sketch of the Al­legheny Woodrat. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 21/3: 249-270.

Schwartz, A., E. Odum. 1957. The Woodrats of East­ern United States. Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 38/2: 197-206.

Sheffield, S., H. Thomas. 1997. Mustela fre­nata. Mam­malian Species, 570: 1-9.

Whitaker Jr., J., W. Hamil­ton Jr.. 1998. Mamm­les of the East­ern United States. Ithaca, New York: Com­stock Pub­li­hing As­so­ci­ates.

Zer­vanos, S., D. Davis. 1968. Per­cep­tion of Red Light by Woodrats (Neotoma flori­dana). Jour­nal of Mam­mal­ogy, 49/4: 759.