Effects of Food Variation on the Feeding Behavior of the Steppe Polecat Mustela eversmanni
2008
The aim of this paper was to investigate the sensitivity of steppe
polecats to starvation risk by comparing their selection to constant
and variable food patches under different starvation conditions through
the two-choice test in the laboratory. The results showed that food
ingestion and frequency of the polecat in constant food patches were
higher than that in the variable food patches and time of the polecat
was the same between two patches during the training period. Only the
frequency of the polecat in constant food patches was higher than that
in variable food patches when the polecat was starved for 1 day. Its
foraging pattern between the two patches was the same as that during
the training period when the polecat was starved for 2 days. Meanwhile,
the food ingestion amount in the two patches was not affected by
starvation, but the time and frequency of the polecat using the two
patches significantly decreased when starvation increased. There was no
difference between the polecat's selections at the constant or variable
food patches and the food variation had no influence on the feeding
behavior of the polecats. The polecats were not sensitive to variable
food under starvation conditions. This was due to the fact that the
polecats had low levels of energy metabolism and they conserved energy
by decreasing their activity to increase their survival under
starvation conditions.
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