THE BURROWING BEHAVIOR OF MYOSPALAX BAILEY AND ITS RELATION TO SOIL HARDNESS

Burrowing behaviors of the plateau zokors ( Myospalax bailely ) in relation to soil hardness were investigated by using radio telemetry at Haibei Alpine Meadow Ecosystem Research Station, Qinghai, China. The results showed that there were no differences of burrowing behaviors and the efficiencies of the excavating segment between male and female, except the digging duration of the male was longer than that of the female in the same soil. With increase of soil hardness, digging duration in incisors significantly increased, but dried soil mass dug out by the zokors in each bout reduced. Meanwhile the field investigation also showed that soil hardness affected the distribution of the zokor.