Allegheny Woodrat: Update since 2017

Allegheny Woodrat, Neotoma magister.  Photo by: Sam James

A blog post written back in 2017 introduced the reader to an ongoing project to protect the Allegheny woodrat, Neotoma magister.  Since 2017, a lot has happened in the woodrat world on and around the Edge of Appalachia.  From the 55 woodrats caught in 2017, DNA samples have suggested lower than optimal genetic health.  In order to booster the genetics of the rat populations in Ohio, biologists decided to capture woodrats from surrounding states and release them in Ohio. The known population of Ohio woodrats are isolated from others across Eastern US.  The goal is to add some diversity to the tiny island of woodrats left in this state.

In 2018 and 2019, Ohio Division of Wildlife continued baiting the known habitats of the woodrat with deworming pills dropped from helicopters.  The idea is to deworm the raccoons that might have the roundworm detrimental to the woodrats survival.  This creates a safer place to release woodrats from other localities.

So far, two out of state woodrats have been released in suitable sites on the preserve.  Working with Pennsylvania Game Commission, we trapped woodrats in Pennsylvania, finding the proper aged female we wanted for translocation.

Allegheny woodrat habitat in Pennsylvania.  Re-finding traps in this habitat was a challenge. 

Pennsylvania woodrat getting ready for transfer.

Pennsylvania woodrat getting ready for released in her new home.

This woodrat was released on the preserve at a pre-determined spot, close to a males territory and within cliffs providing plenty of space for nesting.  She was monitored for a few weeks, and now lives somewhere on the preserve.  Hopefully, she will be mating this spring and adding to the genetics of Ohio.

Another rat came to us opportunistically from Virginia.  A private landowner had caught some rats on his farm that he said "looked different".  They were Allegheny woodrats, not Norway rats.  So the Virginia DOW contacted Ohio DOW and organized a rat transfer to the Edge for a second release.  This second rat was vetted by Veterinarians, had radio collar applied and brought to the Edge before the winter.  Since it was late in the season, plans were made to watch her more closely, giving her plenty of food and recording her actions throughout the winter.

This Virginia rat moved right in, making herself home in the cave.  She decided to use the cave we released her and to date, has been there all winter.  If she hasn't already, we hope the neighboring male will mate with her. This will add her genes into the pool of these isolated woodrats that have little chance of genetic diversity where fewer than 100 individuals live within 17,000 acres.

Here is a video of the Virginia rat's release into her new cave:

Below is a compilation of the Virginia woodrats activities. 

She has taught us a lot about Allegheny woodrat behavior throughout the winter.  A few other woodrats have visited her cave, some male and some juvenile.  Other visitors include: Virginia oppossum, raccoon, bobcat, Carolina wren, mice, gray squirrel and humans.  She was active all winter.  She fought with the male to keep him away from her multiple nests she built.  Three nests were visible in a crack.  Her midden full of food we left for her was not visible, but videos showed her collect the majority of food.  And multiple times she at least went through the motions of mating with the male.  Whether or not she was ready, or it was successful will be determined later!

The plan for the future is to translocate a few more rats.  In the meantime, we will continue baiting and monitoring for raccoon roundworm parasites. Next year we will trap again to collect DNA to see if the foreign genes are making their way into the local gene pool.  This large conservation project to save and protect one of the rarest mammals in Ohio could not happen without the help of Ohio Division of Wildlife.  Although an ongoing project, it appears the current Allegheny woodrats population in Ohio is at least stable and hopefully will increase after this projects efforts.

Posted by: Mark Zloba

Allegheny Woodrat Project 2017

This fall, Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are assisting the Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODOW) in an effort to conserve and protect the Allegheny woodrat, Neotoma magister. 

Sub-adult male Allegheny woodrat caught in southern portion of Edge of Appalachia Preserve  Photo by: Rich McCarty

Last year, a blog post was written here, introducing our efforts to search for new woodrat sites on the Edge of Appalachia Preserve and neighboring properties. We mapped all new sites, recorded fresh Allegheny woodrat activity and collected raccoon scat.  The raccoon is known to be a carrier of a roundworm that, if ingested by woodrats, can wipe out entire populations.  These "packrats" collect many things, including raccoon scat, to store in their middens, and if so, could contaminate not only themselves, but any other rat in the area.  The removal of said scat could prove paramount in protecting this species from extirpation.  This entire project is headed by biologists Al LeCount and Cheryl Mollohan. 

Ideal habitat or Allegheny woodrat.  Peebles dolostone cliffs jetting out of hillside with many cracks and tunnels.  Photo by: Robyn Wright Strauss

This year, CMC and TNC staff along with assistants Laura Hughes and Emily Garnich, have teamed up with these mammal biologists to capture as many Allegheny woodrats as possible in all known active sites in southern Adams County.  Once captured, small tissue samples are collected from the animal's ear, minor processing occurs, and the animal is released.  These curious and I’d have to say adorable rodents are lured into live traps with apples, rodent nutrition blocks and bedding. 

Live traps set in "cave" of Peebles dolostone cliffs

The curiosity of these "packrats" make them pretty easy to catch.  Photo by Mark Zloba

Allegheny woodrats kept satisfied with apple slices, nutrition block and bedding.  Photo by Mark Zloba

Allegheny woodrats are handled gently in soft cones for processing age, weight, sex etc.  Photo by Rich McCarty

Once all captures from all known sites are processed, the collected samples will be sent to CMC curator of zoology, Heather Farrington, for DNA analysis.  Our goal is to learn population size and health of this disappearing mammal. 

Captured woodrats are released in same location they were caught.

It may be the rarest mammal in Ohio, but more importantly, this species is imperiled throughout its range of the Appalachian region of Eastern North America.  ODOW recognizes this species as endangered and understands the possibility of the Allegheny woodrat becoming non-existent in Ohio.  So, they have joined the effort to help protect and study Allegheny woodrats.  Along with supporting this genetic project, ODOW has started distributing harmless medicinal baits that will de-worm any animal that eats it.  The theory is,  raccoons will find the bait, eat it, and the roundworm will die before woodrats collect any scat and bring it back to their middens.

Once released, these personable rats will sometimes pose for a few pictures.  Photo by Robyn Wright Strauss

Then they scurry off to hide, sometimes in a poor hiding spot.  Photo by Mark Zloba

More information to come on this large conservation project.  Many woodrats have been captured to date, and hopefully many more will be captured this fall to obtain the best genetic data possible.  The Edge of Appalachia Preserve and surrounding properties are the last stronghold of this animal in Ohio and we would like to thank ODOW, their biologists, assistants on this endeavor to better understand the Allegheny woodrat and hopefully save it from extirpation.

Enjoy these short videos of the releasing of the woodrats.  If you turn up the volume on the first video, you might hear the thumping sound this female woodrat is making with her feet to scare us away.  If you watch carefully, she continuously and quickly thumps her feet.

Posted by Mark Zloba

Do the "rat" thing

18 years ago when I first got to the Edge of Appalachia Preserve (EOA), there were 2 animals that symbolized the uniqueness and rarity of this landscape.  One was the green salamander and the other was a rat.  Rats are not usually the kind of animal you would get excited about, but this rat, the Allegheny woodrat (Neotoma magister), is a special animal.  At that time, Chris Bedel, the Preserve Director for Cincinnati Museum Center wanted to get the word out about these state endangered rodents.  He was even giving t-shirts with a rat on it to all children visiting the preserve and coined the phrase "Do the Rat Thing".  It turns out that even though historically Allegheny woodrats lived in a possible 8 counties (according to  A Guide to the Mammals of Ohio by Jack L. Gottschang), presently they are only found in southern Adams County, many of these sites on the Edge of Appalachia Preserve.

The state of Ohio is currently doing survey work by visiting historic locations to mark the absence/presence of rats, and collecting raccoon scat to look for the absence/presence of raccoon roundworm that is known to kill the rats.  Woodrats inhabit cliffs with many cracks and broken rock, and/or abandoned buildings left in the forest as home sites.  They do not prefer to live near people, so if you see rats around you house or farm, they are not Allegheny woodrats, but rather the Norway rat.  A non-native species. 

Allegheny woodrat habitat

In order to survey an area that might contain woodrats,  you look for at least one of three things.  A rat, a midden or a latrine.  A latrine is where it relieves itself of excrement, yep, it usually goes to the bathroom in the same place.  A midden is where it stores food, sticks, leaves or basically any junk it wants.  Allegheny woodrats are pack rats.  They love to collect things, and throughout the night, they run around picking up something it wants until it finds something else it wants better.  If you drop a nickel in woodrat country, it will be gone the next day and probably put in the woodrats midden. 



Midden of Allegheny woodrat at new location.

Latrine of Allegheny woodrat at new location.  Yes, that is a large pile of scat.

This makes for an interesting walk in the woods when you come across an old out building or cliff crack and see a pile of junk stuffed into one place.  You know some rat has been there actively collecting things for whatever reason.  I have seen middens with candy wrappers, shot gun shells, nuts, husks, glass pieces, flashlights (left behind from our students and pirated by rats), belt pieces, rubber pieces all collected simply because the rat liked it and couldn't help itself.  Pretty endearing I should say.  This is where the raccoon scat comes into play because if a rat picks up some raccoon scat that contains eggs of the deadly roundworm, and takes it back to the midden, it not only contaminates the midden with an organism capable of killing the rat, but any other rat that visits that midden for possibly the next 7 years.

So to help with the states efforts, we have been mapping out old sites and most importantly looking for new sites of this elusive animal.  Since most of it's home range left in Ohio is on EOA property, we inherit responsibility to know the locations of these rats and how active they are.  On the same trip as an early post about searching for green salamanders, I found 2 latrines and a large midden full of sticks and leaves in a location not known for woodrats.  Some of the leaves were green, so I knew there was an active rat using this location, which looked like the perfect habitat for woodrats.  Since we hardly ever see the rat in person, I thought the best way to know if one was there was to set up a game camera on one of the latrines and the midden.  I left the camera out for 1 week, and after collecting the SD cards, I soon found that there was definitely a rat living there.  See the videos below to watch this cute, yes, I am saying cute rat curiously moving about the cliffs of the preserve.

Both videos above are from the new location.  One is a rat at the latrine playing with some debris and the other is a rat trying to free a belt I stuck under a rock near it's midden.

Just like the green salamanders, I am sure we will find more locations of the Allegheny woodrat within the preserve.  But for the species sake, I hope the state finds them outside this county.  Hopefully in the next year or so, some genetics work will take place to learn the health of the Ohio populations and compare them to other states, where unfortunately they appear to be declining as well.  According to the biologists surveying the woodrat, this species seems to be disappearing across most of it's range in North America, and every little thing we can do to help might make a difference for its survival.  Protecting this large forested area of southern Adams County seems to be a good start.

Posted by: Mark Zloba