![]() These are then rinsed and soaked in water to remove the urine the cleaned and then dried fragments of seeds, bark, twigs, leaves, and solid feces (used for radiocarbon dating) are sorted and identified. Emslie, Mark Stiger, and Ellen Wambach write that the urine-solidified middens are sampled with rock hammers. (DNA can now be used to identify such fragments down to the genus if not species level.) Since packrats tend to collect material from a limited range around their nests, their middens can be read as localized climate change indicators. Fossilized packrat middens thus become inadvertent hoards of pollen and other plant remains, as well as fragments of insects, reptiles, and even other mammals that may have wandered in. The urine crystalizes as it dries out, helping to solidify and preserve the materials of the nest in the arid terrain of the rats’ habitat. Here’s the thing: packrats sometimes pee in their nests. The remains of ancient packrats’ nests can be read as localized climate change indicators. These middens can provide a record of climatic changes, vegetation profiles, and animal life during this period. ![]() Biologists have been studying the last 50,000 years of plant, animal, and climate interactions in the American Southwest by studying the remains (middens) of these packrat nests. These treasures can remain in their nests for a rather long time. In PrairyErth, William Least Heat-Moon wrote “campers have awakened in the morning to find a pocketknife or compass traded for a pinecone or deer turd.” They’ve also been called trade rats because they “trade” an object on the way home for something they like better. When they live near humans, their collections can include silverware, shoes, bits of clothing, newspapers, even pieces of the traps set out for them. They make stick nests that they jumble up with food, waste, and other debris, as well as the things they collect. These rodents, also known as wood rats, were aptly chosen as a comparison. The Neotoma genus packrats have lent their name to humans who won’t throw anything anyway.
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