Neotoma cinerea
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The bushy-tailed woodrat, or packrat (Neotoma cinerea) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in Canada and the United States. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, temperate forests, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland.
The bushy-tailed woodrat is the original "pack rat", the species in which the trading habit is most pronounced. It has a strong preference for shiny objects and will drop whatever it may be carrying in favor of a coin or a spoon.
Bushy-tailed woodrats can be identified by their large, rounded ears, and their long, bushy tails. They are usually brown, peppered with black hairs above with white undersides and feet. The top coloration may vary from buff to almost black. The tail is squirrel-like - bushy, and flattened from base to tip.
These woodrats are good climbers and have sharp claws. They use their long tails for balance while climbing and jumping, and for added warmth. These rodents are sexually dimorphic, with the average male about 50% larger than the average female. Its adult length is 11 to 18 in (28 to 46 cm), half of which is its tail. Its weight is 1.3 lb (590 g).
The bushy-tailed woodrat is the largest... Wikipedia →
Recording1:30
United States · 2021
© Courtney Kelly Jett · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bushy-tailed Wood Rat sighting in Yellowstone National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 32 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Bushy-tailed Wood Rat in Yellowstone National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months.
Between midnight and 3 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bushy-tailed Wood Rat sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Yellowstone National Park, in our data
Yellowstone National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Bushy-tailed Wood Rat sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bushy-tailed Wood Rat is recorded against all the mammals logged in Yellowstone National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
