Social and Environmental Influences on Daily Activity Pattern in Free-Living Subterranean Rodents

Abstract

Predictable daily activity patterns have been detected repeatedly even in mammals living in stable environments, as is the case for subterranean rodents. Whereas studies on activity of these rodents under laboratory conditions almost exclusively have concerned themselves with the influence of light, many field studies have revealed signs of an association between the activity pattern and daily fluctuations of temperature under the ground. This would assume that behavioral thermoregulation is probably involved. The only exceptions to the relationship between temperature and activity are 2 eusocial mole-rats of the genus Fukomys (Bathyergidae, Rodentia), which indicates that activity patterns could be affected also by social cues. To better understand how social and environmental factors influence the activity pattern in a eusocial mole-rat, we monitored the outside-nest activity in another species of this genus, the Ansell’s mole-rat ( Fukomys anselli), which has a relatively small body mass, high conductance, and more superficially situated burrows. Its daily activity had 1 prominent peak (around 1400 h), and it was tightly correlated with the temperature measured at depth of foraging burrows. Since F. anselli has high thermoregulatory requirements to maintain stable body temperature below the lower critical temperature, we conclude that the observed pattern is probably the result of minimizing the cost of thermoregulation. There were no significant differences in the daily activity patterns of breeding males and females and nonbreeders. Members of the same family group tended to have more similar activity patterns, but consistent activity synchronization between individuals was not proven. From the comparison of available data on all subterranean rodents, we assume that social cues in communally nesting mole-rats may disrupt (mask) temperature-related daily activity rhythms but probably only if the additional cost of thermoregulation is not too high, as it likely is in the Ansell’s mole-rat.