Allegheny Woodrat - Description

Description

The Allegheny woodrat is a medium-sized rodent almost indistinguishable from the closely related eastern woodrat, although slightly larger on average, and often with longer whiskers. Adults typically range from 31 to 45 centimetres (12 to 18 in) in total length, including a tail measuring 15 to 21 centimetres (5.9 to 8.3 in). Males weigh 357 grams (12.6 oz) on average, while females are slightly smaller, weighing an average of 337 grams (11.9 oz).

It is the second largest member of the native North American rats and can weigh up to a pound, roughly the size of an eastern gray squirrel.

The fur is long, soft, and brownish-gray or cinnamon in color, while the undersides and feet are white. They have large eyes, and naked ears. Their most distinguishing feature is their tail: while the tails of European rats are naked with only slightly visible hairs, the tails of woodrats are completely furred with hairs about one-third of an inch long, and predominantly black above and white beneath.

The whiskers are unusually long, typically over 5 centimetres (2 in) in length. There are about fifty whiskers on each side, consisting of a mixture of stiff black hairs and softer white ones.

Read more about this topic:  Allegheny Woodrat

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    Everything to which we concede existence is a posit from the standpoint of a description of the theory-building process, and simultaneously real from the standpoint of the theory that is being built. Nor let us look down on the standpoint of the theory as make-believe; for we can never do better than occupy the standpoint of some theory or other, the best we can muster at the time.
    Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)

    Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.
    Elaine Heffner (20th century)

    Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.
    Paul Tillich (1886–1965)