Relative importance of distance senses in hamster predatory behavior.

This study examined the relative importance vision, audition and olfaction played in the localization of prey in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus ). These three senses were blocked singly or in various combinations so that a hamster was tested under eight different situations with a tethered cricket and four situations with a dead cricket. Vision, audition and olfaction all contributed to localization of a tethered cricket with vision playing the dominant role. In localization of a stationary cricket, a hamster used both vision and olfaction to find a prey. Comparison of these data with that from a similar study with the grasshopper mouse showed that the relative roles these distance senses played in predation of these two rodents was substantially different.