Research
Resident
Researchers
Visiting
Researchers
Research
Use Policy
Teaching
Teaching Use Policy
Teaching
at Hastings
Affiliated Institutions
Museum
Vertebrate Zoology
UC Natural Reserve System
Berkeley Nat. Hist.
Museums
Organz. of Biol. Field Stations
User
Inquiries
Calendar
- Who is at Hastings?
Pre-Arrival Information-Required
To Use
the Reserve
Internship Opportunities
Housing Descriptions
Photo Gallery
Data/Information
Hastings
Bibliography
Current
Weather
Archived
Weather Data
Vegetation
Data
Data
Catalog
History
of Hastings
Natural
History
Amphibians
- Reptiles
Birds
Geology
Invertebrates
- Insects, Spiders
Mammals
Native Grasslands
Oak Woodlands
Plants of Hastings
Webcams in Wildlands
Newsletter,
K-12
Current
Newsletter
Resources for K-12 Teachers
Contact
Us
Office, Resident Staff
Topographic Map of Hastings
Travel / Driving
Instructions
Sketch Map- Building Names
Dear Professor Matocq,
I have some questions about Duskyfooted Woodrats (DFWR) that I hope you
can help me with. Are the low, dome-shaped ones the ones that
get enlarged into the tipi-shaped ones over the years of construction?
What I find is that the 'sharper' nests are those that are currently being added to (I feel like the freshest sprigs are often at the top) and may be more common in the breeding season. As far as I can tell, the dome shape can be characteristic of any aged house and the shape of the house shifts seasonally even with the same occupant.
Are they (the terrestrial nests) built mostly by females?
Are the arboreal (aerial?) nests only made or mostly made by males?
In most parts of the range outside of Carmel Valley, aerial nests are actually quite rare. Nonetheless, I've seen no sex bias in occupancy. The tree nests do disintegrate, though, much more rapidly than the ground nests so if you see a nest in a tree its very likely to be currently occupied.
Someone has told me that in a survey of 50 to 60 nests, they found only 5 arboreal ones; I said that the sex ratio is skewed towards females, and the arboreal nests are the male nests. Is this true?
see above
Do some males build nests on the ground, or live
in nests on the ground outside of the mating season?
Yes, most males build/maintain and occupy terrestrial nests year round. Animals coming into an area will take over a vacant nest rather than start building a new one, so completely new nests are actually pretty rare in otherwise commonly occupied areas...the exception would be in particulary high density years when no vacancies exist.
When young females are evicted from the maternal nests after two months,
can they take over nests of other DFWRs? If they do, do they take
over nests of older rats or other young ones? Or do the young females
build their own (the smaller dome-shaped nests) or takeover abandoned
ones?
I have no evidence of 'displacement' but that would be fairly tough to document. As I said above...they'll typically take over abandoned houses...would seem to me that there would be an even higher premium on taking over recently occupied houses since the food cache would be in better shape....but I have no data on the latter...a cool experiment to do, though!
Thank you for any assistance you can give me.
I have enjoyed reading the abstracts I have found on-line about your
DNA and morphology work with DFWR and the new, segregated macrotis
species.
Great to know someone is reading this stuff...not too many folks out there are as enthusiastic about rats as I am! Thanks for some fun questions.
Marjorie
Sincerely,
Alan Kaplan,
Naturalist (ret.)
El Cerrito, CA 94530