Sensory abilities in food localization in four species of African mole-rats with diverse social organization

Abstract

Until recently, it was assumed that African mole-rats search for food randomly, as it is in concordance with Aridity food distribution hypothesis. However, recent studies indicate that some subterranean rodent species including mole-rats could be able to use plant chemicals (kairomones) for food localization. In my master thesis I conducted a battery of experiments on four mole-rat species to prove, that these species also posses the ability of kairomone guided foraging independently of their social organization.