Dong Kechi, Zhou Jianwei, Zhang Feiyu, Dong Longming, Chu Bin, Hua Rui, Hua Limin
College of Grassland Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecosystem of the Ministry of Education, Engineering and Technology Research Center for Alpine Rodent Pest Control, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring, Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hohhot 010010, China.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jan 9;13(2):240. doi: 10.3390/ani13020240.
There are considerable challenges involved in studying the behavior of subterranean rodents owing to the underground nature of their ecotope. Seismic communication plays a crucial role in the behavior of subterranean rodents, particularly solitary ones. The plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi), a solitary subterranean rodent species endemic to the Qinghai−Tibet Plateau, will usually occupy empty neighboring tunnels in order to extend their territory. Little is known, however, about the process of territorial occupation or the function of animal communication when occupation is taking place. Based on previous studies of subterranean rodent communication, we hypothesized that plateau zokors use seismic signals to detect neighboring tunnels and then occupy them when it was found their neighbors were absent. To test this, we placed artificial tunnels close to active original zokor tunnels to simulate the availability of an empty neighboring tunnel, and then the seismic signals when a zokor chose to occupy the empty artificial tunnel were recorded. The results showed that the frequency of zokors occupying artificial empty tunnels within 48 h was 7/8, In all of these instances, the zokors generated seismic signals before and after occupation of the empty artificial tunnel. The number of seismic signals generated by the zokors increased significantly (p = 0.024) when they detected and occupied the artificial tunnels, compared to those generated in their original tunnels without the presence of an artificial tunnel alongside. Inside the original tunnels, the inter-pulse time interval of the seismic signals was significantly higher (p < 0.001), the peak frequency of these signals was significantly higher (p < 0.01), and the energy of the signals was significantly lower (p = 0.006), compared with those when an artificial tunnel was positioned next to the original. The results of this study suggest that plateau zokors first generate seismic signals to detect empty neighboring tunnels and that they are empty. In the absence of neighbor plateau zokors, they occupy the empty tunnels to extend their own territory.
由于地下啮齿动物栖息地的地下性质，研究它们的行为面临着诸多挑战。地震通讯在地下啮齿动物的行为中起着至关重要的作用，尤其是对于独居的地下啮齿动物。高原鼢鼠（Eospalax baileyi）是青藏高原特有的一种独居地下啮齿动物，通常会占据相邻的空隧道以扩大其领地。然而，对于领地占据过程或占据发生时动物通讯的功能，人们了解甚少。基于先前对地下啮齿动物通讯的研究，我们假设高原鼢鼠利用地震信号来探测相邻的隧道，然后在发现邻居不在时占据它们。为了验证这一点，我们在活跃的原始鼢鼠隧道附近放置人工隧道，以模拟相邻空隧道的可用性，然后记录鼢鼠选择占据空人工隧道时的地震信号。结果表明，鼢鼠在48小时内占据人工空隧道的频率为7/8。在所有这些情况下，鼢鼠在占据空人工隧道之前和之后都会产生地震信号。与在没有人工隧道相邻的原始隧道中产生的地震信号相比，当鼢鼠探测并占据人工隧道时，它们产生的地震信号数量显著增加（p = 0.024）。在原始隧道内，与在原始隧道旁边放置人工隧道时相比，地震信号的脉冲间隔时间显著更高（p < 0.001），这些信号的峰值频率显著更高（p < 0.01），信号能量显著更低（p = 0.006）。这项研究的结果表明，高原鼢鼠首先产生地震信号来探测相邻的空隧道，并且确定它们是空的。在没有相邻高原鼢鼠的情况下，它们占据空隧道以扩大自己的领地。
