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    Seasonal effects on digging activity and burrow architecture in the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus (Rodentia: Bathyergidae)

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    Authors
    Thomas, H.
    Bateman, Bill
    Scantlebury, M.
    Bennett, N.
    Date
    2012
    Type
    Journal Article
    
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    Citation
    Thomas, H. and Bateman, B. and Scantlebury, M. and Bennett, N. 2012. Seasonal effects on digging activity and burrow architecture in the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus (Rodentia: Bathyergidae). African Zoology. 47 (2): pp. 332-340.
    Source Title
    African Zoology
    DOI
    10.3377/004.047.0222
    ISSN
    1562-7020
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2848
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Most polygynous male mammals exhibit little or no parental care or involvement raising young. Instead, they invest indirectly in their own morphological and physiological attributes which enhance their chance of reproduction. Such secondary morphological sex traits may contribute to differences in the burrow architecture of fossorial mammals, such as the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus. Indeed, little is known about the seasonal changes in burrow architecture or differences in burrow configuration may differ between the sexes of subterranean African mole-rats (Bathyergidae). We excavated burrow systems of male and female B. suillus during the summer and the winter to investigate whether male burrow architecture reflected putative mate-seeking behaviour. We consider burrow geometry in response to mating strategies. Male burrow systems explored the environment more efficiently than females. This is presumably because of the increase in associated energetic costs of being a large male. Males produce more mounds indicating territorial behaviour even when it is energetically costly to dispose of soil onto the surface when the soil is less friable during the summer. Overall tunnel dimensions did not differ between the sexes. It appears that a change in season does not affect the geometry of the burrow system or tunnel dimensions in a climatically buffered environment.

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