![]() In urban areas, rats occupy houses, warehouses, stores, sewers, garbage dumps, and any other place that provides adequate shelter and a nearby source of food. The Norway rat nearly always resides near human activity. This rat is distributed throughout the world in association with humans and in Oregon is found in most of the counties west of the Cascade Range and from some counties along the Columbia River east of the Cascade Range. Albino, melanistic, and spotted specimens are known to occur in free-living populations. The pelage is course, a grizzled brownish or rusty gray dorsally and dirty white to yellowish gray ventrally. The ears are membranous and lightly furred. This heavy-bodied rat has a scantily haired, scaly tail shorter than the length of the head and body. The Norway rat is the largest member of the subfamily in Oregon. This woodrat is more active at night, but may be abroad during daylight hours. A central chamber is used for food storage and some houses have a latrine. Commonly, adjacent stick houses are connected by paths between ground level openings that lead to large central chambers through a maze of passageways. The dusky-footed woodrat constructs houses of sticks and other debris in trees or on the ground. In Oregon, this woodrat occurs from the California border northward along the coast to near Bandon, northward inland through the Willamette Valley and other interior valleys to near Mollala and Monmouth, and northward to Brownsboro, Jackson County, the Sprague River and Lake Albert south of the Cascade Range. ![]() Although variably in extent, a dusky splotch occurs on the dorsal surface of the white feet. The dorsal pelage consists of hairs with steel gray bases, a band of ocherous buff, and a tip of black. The dusky-footed woodrat is a medium-sized rat-like form with large, nearly naked ears, protruding eyes, and a long tail.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |