Viñals Adrià, Bertolino Sandro, Gil-Delgado José Antonio
Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrático José Beltrán, 2, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini, 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Turin, Italy.
Behav Processes. 2017 Feb;135:25-28. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.11.016. Epub 2016 Nov 28.
Communal nesting has been described in many rodents including some dormouse species. In this study, we report the existence of this reproductive strategy in the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus. Data was recorded by checking natural nests and nest-boxes from 2003 to 2013 in SE Spain. Pups and adults dormice found in nests were captured and marked. Overall, 198 nests were found: 161 (81.31%) were singular nests and 37 (18.69%) were communal nests. Communal nests were composed by different combinations of one up to three females together with one up to three different size litters. The number of communal nests varied from year to year in accordance with the number of singular nests and no seasonal differences were observed. In at least one case, an adult female and her adult daughter were found sharing the same nest-box. The hypothesis that communal nesting was encouraged by a lack of favourable nesting sites was rejected. Litters protection from predators or conspecifics seems the most likely hypothesis to explain communal nesting in our garden dormouse population.
许多啮齿动物，包括一些睡鼠种类，都有群居筑巢的现象。在本研究中，我们报告了花园睡鼠（Eliomys quercinus）也存在这种繁殖策略。2003年至2013年期间，我们通过检查西班牙东南部的天然巢穴和巢箱来记录相关数据。对在巢穴中发现的幼崽和成年睡鼠进行了捕获和标记。总体而言，共发现198个巢穴：其中161个（81.31%）为单个巢穴，37个（18.69%）为群居巢穴。群居巢穴由一至三只雌性睡鼠与一至三窝不同大小的幼崽以不同组合构成。群居巢穴的数量随年份而变化，与单个巢穴的数量一致，且未观察到季节性差异。至少有一个案例中，发现一只成年雌性睡鼠与其成年女儿共用同一个巢箱。因缺乏适宜筑巢地点而促使群居筑巢的假设被否定。保护幼崽免受捕食者或同种动物侵害似乎是解释我们研究中花园睡鼠种群群居筑巢现象的最有可能的假设。
