April 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 43MICHAEL COVE
North Carolina State University
AND USFWS
tion could help protect the beleaguered rodent from
cats and other invasive species.
Woodrats build giant nests by dragging thou-
sands of sticks across yards of dense undergrowth.
These structures—which can stand up to four feet
high and stretch to more than eight feet across—
serve as nursery, toilet, pantry and sanctuary. But
the racket the woodrats create during construction
can act as a homing beacon for nearby cats. In the
mid-2000s DeGayner and his brother tried to solve
this problem by providing the woodrats with artifi-
cial nests. If the brothers could not eliminate the cat
threat, they could at least help mitigate some of its
impact. They removed the innards of a discarded Jet
Ski, repurposing the hull as a ready-made habitat.
Woodrats moved in almost immediately, augment-
ing the structure with sticks over time. The brothers
eagerly collected more watercraft.
Human assistance to endangered species is com-
mon in conservation. Cove wants to see how these
faux châteaus affect woodrats’ chances of becoming a
cat’s dinner. The study could provide valuable infor-
mation to other conservationists who aim to protect
vulnerable animal populations from feral cats.
On a cold November morning Cove and DeGayner
cruised the two-lane highway that bisects Crocodile
Lake, armed with a list of nest sites to check. First up
was nest 427. The multigeneration woodrat home is
just a few hundred yards from a busy road, but the
site is hidden in a nearly impenetrable wall of greenthat swallows any traffic sounds. This family of wood-
rats built its home around the hull of a derelict Sea-
Doo that the DeGayner brothers had dragged in
more than a decade earlier. The woodrats decorated
it with snail shells, Sharpie caps and bungee cords.
When Cove saw that the entrance to nest 427 had
been swept clear of leaves and cobwebs—a clear sign
that there were woodrats inside—he gave DeGayner
a thumbs-up. “This one’s good,” he said. Over the
next several hours the duo repeated this process
upward of 20 times, sometimes celebrating signs of
life, sometimes lamenting empty hulls. Crouching
down in the shade just a few feet from the traffic
rushing past on the highway, Cove pointed to a jum-
bled heap of sticks—a new nest he had not seen
before. “It’s not much,” he said, “but it’s there.”MORE TO EXPLORE
Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer. Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella.
Princeton University Press, 2016.
Decrease in Population and Increase in Welfare of Community Cats in a Twenty-Three Year Trap-
Neuter-Return Program in Key Largo, FL: The ORCAT Program. Rachael E. Kreisler, Heather N.
Cornell and Julie K. Levy in Frontiers in Veterinary Science , Vol. 6, Article 7; February 1, 2019.
Towards Recovery of an Endangered Island Endemic: Distributional and Behavioral Responses of
Key Largo Woodrats Associated with Exotic Predator Removal. Michael V. Cove et al. in Biological
Conservation , Vol. 237, pages 423–429; September 2019.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
The Evolution of House Cats. Carlos A. Driscoll et al.; June 2009.
scientificamerican.com/magazine/saTWO WOODRATS
pose outside the
en trance of their
nest. They build
these structures
as pro tection
from predators.© 2020 Scientific American