A woodrat midden, or house, in southern Utah (May 2012)

Currently inhabited woodrat midden (see all the fresh plant clippings in the middle?) in southern Utah (May 2012)

Another woodrat midden in southern Utah (May 2012)

This packrat really likes cowpies! (southern Utah, May 2012)

Creosote bush, the main food source of desert woodrats living in the Mojave Desert (southern Utah, May 2012)

How scientists collect woodrats in the field (southern Utah, May 2012)

Joshua trees are also common in this part of southern Utah (May 2012)

Beautiful desert sunset in southern Utah (May 2012)

Woodrat exhibit at Arches National Park Visitor Center (Sept 2012)!

Salzburg, Austria in July 2012 for the annual Society for Experimental Biology meeting

Salzburg, Austria in July 2012 for the annual Society for Experimental Biology meeting

To Crete with colleagues in July 2012 to study feeding behavior of the Cretan spiny mouse

Acomys as an educational tool for museum patrons

View of the old fort on Crete

Quick stop to Athens to see the Parthenon

Huge midden of stephen's woodrat in northern Arizona (October 2013)

Another woodrat midden in northern Arizona (October 2013)

The lab truck in a field of juniper trees, the main food source for stephen's woodrats (Oct 2013)

Flagging, used to remind us where to find the middens (Oct 2013)

Woodrats in cages with shavings, paper towels and juniper - their favorite food (Oct 2013)

Close-up of a stephen's woodrat (Oct 2013)

We handle the woodrats by putting them in plastic bags so they don't bite us, another close-up (Oct 2013)

Researchers weighing woodrats and collecting feces (Oct 2013)

Mt. Humpherys in the background, with juniper trees in the foreground (Oct 2013)

Neotoma lepida habitat in southwestern Utah (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Blooming cholla cactus in southwestern Utah (May 2014)

Larrea tridentata, creosote bush (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Weighing and determining the sex of a woodrat (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

New cage with fresh creosote bush leaves (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Measuring midden size at base of creosote bush (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

No spell check in the field while marking a midden (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Giant creosote bush with joshua trees in background (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Amazing field crew! KP, Aaron, myself and Natalie (May 2014, photo credit: KP)

Blue skies in southwestern Utah (May 2014, photo credit: KP Luong)

Hunting for middens in southwestern Utah (October 2014; photo credit Johanna Varner)

View of Mojave Desert in southwestern Utah (October 2014; photo credit Johanna Varner)

Creosote and joshua tree, as far as the eye can see (October 2014; photo credit Johanna Varner)

Baiting Sherman traps for collecting woodrats (May 2015)

Ready to weight woodrats in the field! (may 2015)

Checking temperature loggers at a creosote bush in the Mojave desert (May 2015)

And sometimes you gotta dig out your data... (May 2015)

Meet Bruce, the biggest, baddest brushtail possum in Canberra (July 2015)

Ringtail possums are also pretty cute (July 2015)

Ringtail possum with local eucalyptus foliage (July 2015)

And then we watched the brushtail possums sleep, for science (July 2015)

Brushtail possums have unique hands and feet, specialized for tree climbing, grooming and all-around awesomeness (July 2015)

Meet Ginger, one of the sweetest and most photogenic brushtail possums in Canberra (August 2015)

Close up! (August 2015)

Sometimes, it's rather warm while you are trying to sleep (August 2015)