The Bushy-tailed Woodrat is distinguished from other woodrats by its thick, squirrel-like bushy tail and is the largest woodrat in North America. It inhabits rocky cliffs, talus slopes, and old buildings across western North America, building stick houses in sheltered rock crevices. Its urine crystallizes into a varnish-like amber lacquer called amberat that preserves plant material in middens for tens of thousands of years.
Habitat
Rocky cliffs, talus slopes, and subalpine forests
Diet
Vegetation, seeds, fungi, and bark
How common
Uncommon
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