The road effect on small rodent population is investigated at 8 fragmented forest areas in the Baekdudaegan mountain range, South Korea in September 2001. We especially focused on the distribution and body condition o...The road effect on small rodent population is investigated at 8 fragmented forest areas in the Baekdudaegan mountain range, South Korea in September 2001. We especially focused on the distribution and body condition of small rodents near the roads. Korean field mouse (Apodemus peninsulae) seems to be more sensitive to the existence of a road than striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius). Korean field mouse prefers interior forest area to around road. Striped field mouse is a habitat generalist and has wide distributional range around road, but Korean field mouse is forest-inhabiting species and their distribution is limited in forest area. These results suggest the effect of road is different on each small rodent species and their habitat preferences.展开更多
In hand reared birds and mammals, it is generally considered that the development of hoarding behavior is the result of an interaction between the development and maturation of the nervous system and learning from ind...In hand reared birds and mammals, it is generally considered that the development of hoarding behavior is the result of an interaction between the development and maturation of the nervous system and learning from individual experience. How- ever, few studies have been done on wild animals. We tested differences in hoarding behavior between captive reared and wild individuals of two sympatric small rodents, Korean field mice Apodemus peninsulae and Chinese white-bellied rats Niviventer confucianus. Our aim was to identify if lack of experience from the wild would result in poorly developed hoarding behavior. The Korean field mice perform scatter- and larder-hoarding behaviors whereas Chinese white-bellied rats hoard food in larders only. Within outdoor enclosures we compared seed-hoarding behavior in reared juveniles （RJ, 40-50 d old, pregnant mothers were captured in the wild）, wild juveniles （WJ, as young as the RJ） and wild adults （WA, over-winter animals）. We found that a lack of experience from the wild had significant effects on seed-hoarding behavior for both species. The RJ-group removed and hoarded fewer seeds than the WJ- and WA-groups. The two latter groups hoarded seeds in a similar way. In the Korean filed mouse the ILl-group placed more seeds on the ground surface than other groups. These findings suggest that wild experience is important for the acquisition of an appropriate food-hoarding behavior （especially for scatter-hoarding） in these species展开更多
文摘The road effect on small rodent population is investigated at 8 fragmented forest areas in the Baekdudaegan mountain range, South Korea in September 2001. We especially focused on the distribution and body condition of small rodents near the roads. Korean field mouse (Apodemus peninsulae) seems to be more sensitive to the existence of a road than striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius). Korean field mouse prefers interior forest area to around road. Striped field mouse is a habitat generalist and has wide distributional range around road, but Korean field mouse is forest-inhabiting species and their distribution is limited in forest area. These results suggest the effect of road is different on each small rodent species and their habitat preferences.
文摘In hand reared birds and mammals, it is generally considered that the development of hoarding behavior is the result of an interaction between the development and maturation of the nervous system and learning from individual experience. How- ever, few studies have been done on wild animals. We tested differences in hoarding behavior between captive reared and wild individuals of two sympatric small rodents, Korean field mice Apodemus peninsulae and Chinese white-bellied rats Niviventer confucianus. Our aim was to identify if lack of experience from the wild would result in poorly developed hoarding behavior. The Korean field mice perform scatter- and larder-hoarding behaviors whereas Chinese white-bellied rats hoard food in larders only. Within outdoor enclosures we compared seed-hoarding behavior in reared juveniles （RJ, 40-50 d old, pregnant mothers were captured in the wild）, wild juveniles （WJ, as young as the RJ） and wild adults （WA, over-winter animals）. We found that a lack of experience from the wild had significant effects on seed-hoarding behavior for both species. The RJ-group removed and hoarded fewer seeds than the WJ- and WA-groups. The two latter groups hoarded seeds in a similar way. In the Korean filed mouse the ILl-group placed more seeds on the ground surface than other groups. These findings suggest that wild experience is important for the acquisition of an appropriate food-hoarding behavior （especially for scatter-hoarding） in these species
