Hickman G C
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, R.S.A.
Prog Clin Biol Res. 1990;335:185-210.
Most moles and mole rats spend their lifetimes within the confines of tunnel walls, constructing, maintaining, and modifying burrow system structure in response to changing external circumstances and changing internal needs. Thus, anatomy, physiology, behavior, and distribution are all greatly affected by the burrow environment, with temperature, humidity, gas concentrations, living space, availability of food and mating partners, and protection from flooding and predation all being influenced by burrow architecture. Regrettably, the burrow structure of almost all subterranean mammals is unknown, or known only from several incomplete excavations. Moreover, existing data is often vague without any mention of particular structures or surrounding habitat, which makes the placing of burrow structure in an adaptive perspective difficult. Reasons for these short-comings are understandable: excavations require laborious excavation which can extend for hundreds of meters, reaching depths in excess of a meter; it is often difficult to remove the occupant prior to excavation which avoids modification of the system by the animal during excavation; particular types of subterranean mammals are limited in distribution to particular continents so that the literature is often localized and a global perspective difficult to obtain; and there is no standardization of terms relating to burrow structure, making intergroup comparison confusing. This paper addresses the above difficulties and encourages further investigation in this central area of study by making obvious the paucity of information for most subterranean mammals, presenting a synopsis of known burrow structures of major groups which will make particular gaps in our knowledge evident, providing a bibliography of major papers on burrow structure with coverage of most moles and mole rats, establishing a checklist of burrow features to better analyze future excavations and facilitate intergroup comparison, and lastly, to indicate possible adaptive significance of various burrow features to promote further observation, speculation and experimentation.
大多数鼹鼠和鼹形鼠一生都生活在隧道壁的范围内，根据外部环境的变化和内部需求的改变来建造、维护和改造洞穴系统结构。因此，解剖学、生理学、行为和分布都受到洞穴环境的极大影响，温度、湿度、气体浓度、生活空间、食物和交配伙伴的可获得性，以及免受洪水和捕食的影响都受到洞穴结构的影响。遗憾的是，几乎所有地下哺乳动物的洞穴结构都不为人知，或者仅从几次不完整的挖掘中得知。此外，现有数据往往模糊不清，没有提及任何特定结构或周围栖息地，这使得从适应性角度看待洞穴结构变得困难。这些不足之处的原因是可以理解的：挖掘需要艰苦的挖掘工作，可能延伸数百米，深度超过一米；在挖掘之前通常很难赶走居住者，这避免了动物在挖掘过程中对系统的改造；特定类型的地下哺乳动物分布在特定的大陆，因此文献往往具有局限性，难以获得全球视角；而且与洞穴结构相关的术语没有标准化，使得群体间的比较令人困惑。本文解决了上述困难，并鼓励在这一核心研究领域进行进一步调查，方法是揭示大多数地下哺乳动物信息的匮乏，概述主要群体已知的洞穴结构，这将使我们知识中的特定空白变得明显，提供一份关于洞穴结构的主要论文的参考书目，涵盖大多数鼹鼠和鼹形鼠，建立一份洞穴特征清单，以更好地分析未来的挖掘工作并促进群体间的比较，最后，指出各种洞穴特征可能的适应性意义，以促进进一步的观察、推测和实验。
