Danny Buckwalter, age 10, of Gary, Ind.., for his question:
What is a pack rat?
One of the happiest tales of the Old West is about a desert pack rat. In the dead of night he crept into a prospector's cabin and stole a nail and a few other inexpensive items from the table. In return the furry little trader left a few gold nuggets. The prospector knew the ways of the wild and fol1owed the trail of the pack rat. It led him, so the story goes, to a valuable gold mine.
The many pack rats that enjoy life in the wilds of our country make themselves at home in the swamps and rocky uplands, the mountains and deserts. Most of them, and certainly the most famous ones, enjoy life on the prairies and among the western mountains. The charming rodents are also known as wood rats, trade rats and cave rats.
You might suspect that a creature with so many aliases would be a wanted criminal with a long record of crimes. This could be true, for the busy fellow is a great snitcher of small articles. He makes off with nails and scraps of china, bits of tin and colored glass, watches and rags. Glass eyes and false teeth left around a cabin are sure to be taken. The looting is done at night, and many a camper wakes to find that a pack rat has quietly lifted a few coins from his pockets.
In human terms, this looting is petty theft. But the pack rat knows nothing of human laws, and if he did he would consider himself a trader rather than a thief, for the amazing rodent always leaves something in exchange for what he takes. He may take a penny and leave behind a nut or a few seeds, and at least one pack rat left gold nuggets for a few worthless trinkets.
The pack rat resembles a ground squirrel, and zoologists do not class him as a true rat. His coat of soft fur is dense and fluffy. His long thin tail is covered with fur and often quite bushy. He dines on roots and grasses, nuts and seeds, and the desert pack rat nibbles cacti to get both food and water. His home may be a burrow, a small cave or a high castle built of sticks. He has rooms to store food and to display his collection of bright and shiny treasures, and the doorways are always barricaded with sticks and stones to keep out his hungry foes.
The fat pack rat of the west is hunted by the lean and hungry kit fox. This clever pack rat uses the prickliest of cacti as an ally against his mortal enemy. The colla cactus sheds its joints, and the pack rat piles these spiky chunks in front of his doorways. The kit fox can outrun him, but the pack rat can get over his barricades, and once inside his burrow the hungry fox cannot reach him.