Basin wiki · Animals
Desert woodrat
Neotoma lepida · pack rat
The pack rat: the stick-mound builder under a Joshua tree or in a shed, not a kangaroo rat.
In the basin
Woodrats stack sticks, cactus joints, and shiny junk into a midden. That mound under a Joshua tree or in a garage is the ID. They are larger and slower than a kangaroo rat and do not hop. Seal gaps if you do not want a house guest; do not poison a food chain over a nest. Wikipedia and the park’s mammal notes have the animal.