Meeting Abstract
Woodrats (genus Neotoma) are well known for their building and caching behaviors and build elaborate structures called middens. In the wild, middens serve as shelter and a storage site for their caches. While the caching behavior of woodrats has been rigorously studied in captivity, building behavior studies are lacking. We wanted to determine if building and caching behavior could be empirically studied in a laboratory setting. Three groups of woodrats were used in the experiment: N. albigula, N. lepida from the Mojave desert, and N.lepida from the Great Basin desert. These species of woodrats are commonly found in desert terrain where resources are limited and all three display different midden structures in the wild. To test for differences in building and caching behavior the woodrats were placed in a nesting cage that had access to a secondary area that contained objects the woodrat could use for building or caching. The caching objects included jingle bells and rabbit chow (food) while the building objects included sticks and cotton nesting material. Each day the objects used or collected were counted and replenished. There were significant differences in building and caching behaviors between species. N. albigula favored cotton equally to sticks and bells, but favored sticks more than bells. Great Basin N. lepida favored cotton more than sticks and bells, which were favored the same. Mojave N. lepida preferred cotton more than sticks and sticks more than bells. We conclude that woodrats do display species specific building behavior in the laboratory. Additional information collected via remote video surveillance will reveal the amount of time devoted to building and caching activity.
