Effect of Anthropogenic Factors on the Ability of Narrow-skulled Voles (Lasiopodomys gregalis) to Adapt to Captive Conditions

To test the hypothesis that animals from habitats exposed to high anthropogenic pressure are more successful in adapting to captivity, immature narrow-skulled voles trapped in different zones of Karasuk Research Station (Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals) and beyond its boundaries were kept under laboratory conditions. Voles trapped in the immediate vicinity of service and living buildings rapidly gained weight, but their mortality rate was higher than in voles trapped at the periphery of the station or beyond its territory. The highest survival rate was observed among voles from the periphery of the station, which were especially shy and socially affiliative. Thus, narrow-skulled voles born and grown under high anthropogenic pressure proved to adapt to captivity more easily, but their survival rate was lower than in voles from habitats exposed to moderate or weak anthropogenic pressure.