Burrow systems of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus Milne Edwards, 1867)

“…For a few numbers of Merion species burrow systems have been described briefly by Naumov and Lobachev (1975), Eygelis (1980), Yigit et al (1995), Shenbrot et al (2002), Scheibler et al (2006) and Demı rbaş and Pamukoglu (2008). Data on burrows are in sharp contrast with those obtained in northwest of the Persian jird's range.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ilikler (1974) mentioned that there are food storage chambers in the burrows of M. tristrami. Scheibler et al (2006) examined burrow structures of M. unguiculatus Milne-Edwards, 1867 in northern China, near the cities Baochang and Xilinhot. Furthermore they described three burrow types including summer, winter and temporary in concordance with Naumov and Lobachev (1975) and we described different types of burrow for the M. persicus.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Burrow configuration of Persian jird Meriones persicus Blanford, 1875 (Rodentia: Muridae, Gerbillinae)

et al. 2011

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a b s t r a c tPersian jird Meriones persicus is a widespread species in Iranian plateau and is one of the commonest jirds in desert rodents of Iran. We studied architecture of Persian jird's burrow systems in the central part of its geographic range in Iran for the first time in south of Shah-Reza in Isfahan Province. Three types burrow were detected for this jird including temporary burrow, shelter burrow and breeding-nest burrow. The burrows of M. persicus were restricted to areas including cover and located mostly on flat and slightly sloping areas with clay-lome soil type. Design of burrows demonstrated M. persicus do not hibernate in the study area. Because we observed this species in winter and in cold temperature in study area in active burrow systems. Also, the structure of nest chambers can be seen as an adaptation to adverse weather conditions in the central part of the Iranian Plateau, since they are likely to provide a stable microclimate that buffers conditions outside.

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“…However, little is known about the ecology and population dynamics of wild Mongolian gerbils (Agren et al 1989a;Liu et al 2007;Scheibler et al 2006;Wang and Zhong 2006). Studies of within-year variation in the demography of small rodents need monthly or bimonthly livetrapping and rigorous statistical models for the accurate estimation of demographic parameters Slade 2006, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%