![]() ![]() Within the one-acre zone surrounding the den, packrats-as their name designates-gather materials of all sorts of desert debris. Given the opportunity, packrats will build nests in human castoffs like an engine compartment of a vehicle that has remained in one spot too long. Instead of burrowing underground, packrats construct dens in a variety of locations-for instance, a protected ring of woody yucca, or better yet a rocky outcrop located in a cave or under a shady boulder overhang. Neotoma lepida is, for the most part, a nocturnal and solitary creature which hoards for very practical and specific reasons. Their geographic range is vast, extending far south into Baja California and northwestern Sonora northward throughout the deserts of the Great Basin and east into western Utah, Arizona and Colorado. ![]() With their dark eyes and tawny brown coats, they are quite handsome. Unlike its packrat cousins living in more temperate climates, Neotoma lepida is rather small in comparison, ranging from eleven to fifteen inches in length, including its tail, and weighing in at around a third of a pound. To prosper, these desert denizens must construct elaborate multilayered dens called middens (an archeological term for a domestic trash heap) where they can escape the heat of the day or perhaps a hungry predator looking for a late afternoon snack. Compared with other rodents of the Mojave Desert, such as the kangaroo rat ( Dipodomys deserti), it does not tolerate high temperatures well, requiring ample water and succulent food sources to survive within its arid environment. Until then, learn more about the PACKRAT exam.The desert woodrat ( Neotoma lepida )-more popularly known as the packrat-is by design not well suited for desert living. Submit your suggested name on the packrat’s Facebook posts or send them to select the two most popular and interesting entries, and let you vote for your favorite at the Education Forum registration desk in November. Since it’s tedious to keep referring to the packrat as “the packrat” - and because mascots should have names - we need your help in choosing a moniker for our exam mascot. ![]() The packrat mascot’s final destination on this multi-week journey will be the 2015 Education Forum in Washington, D.C., just in time to announce the release of PACKRAT #20. Starting today, you can follow the packrat’s journey across America on Facebook. University of Texas - Medical Branch at Galveston.UT Southwestern - School of Health Professions.This will take our packrat mascot to 11 PA programs: This year, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of PACKRAT, we’ve sent the mascot on a quest to visit each of the PA programs that are represented on the 2015 PACKRAT committee. Two decades and countless exam administrations later, PACKRAT remains one of the best-known, widest-researched, and most-beloved assessment tools in PA education history. As was our practice back then, we condensed that formidable name to a more manageable acronym: PACKRAT. Twenty years ago, we released an exam that we called the Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool. ![]()
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