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    Toxin-induced IDDM (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) in the musk shrew
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    The Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus) is a commensal species whose has become widespread across the Old World due to human activities. This species has been well studied in captivity as a laboratory animal; however, in the wild, its ecological habits are not well investigated. We conducted radio-telemetry surveys to determine home range, habitat selection, and activity patterns of the Asian house shrew over 1 week in September 2012 on Okinawa-jima Island, Japan. The home range size of male shrews was 2,556 m2 on average. The shrews were nocturnal, and they exhibited repetitive cycles of active and inactive during the night. The shrews did not move from dens during the daytime, although a few brief activities were observed near dens. Shrews favored grassland habitat as a nocturnal activity place (presumable foraging sites), whereas they favored under floors of artificial constructions as den sites. Our results suggest that Asian house shrews live in near human residential area to obtain the favorable den sites, and they do not absolutely need food resources from human activities for their settlement.
    Suncus
    Shrew
    Home range
    Captivity
    Insectivora
    Sciurus
    Citations (2)
    The karyological relationship between the Japanese white- toothed shrew and the Japanese house shrew is examined, using G- and C-banding methods. The"homologous"chromosomes or chromosome regions between species as identified by the G-band homology amounted in total to almost 85% of the total chromosome length of C. d. chisai. These findings strongly indicate that the G-bands of these two shrew species have highly been conserved throughout the course of their phylogenesis in spite of marked differentiation in their morphology and ecological characteristics.
    Shrew
    Suncus
    Insectivora
    White (mutation)
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    Summary. Musk shrews were maintained from weaning (20 days of age) for 20 or 40 days in one of several social conditions. In Exp. 1, young males housed with adult females gained more weight and had heavier sex accessory organs than did young males housed with an adult male or reared alone. In Exp. 2 this same pattern of accelerated growth and sexual maturation was found when males were reared directly with an adult female or in a split cage where a wire barrier served to separate the male and his adult female cagemate. In Exp. 3, males were reared in cages containing clean or soiled bedding: soiled bedding was taken once every 5 days from the cage of an adult male, or a female. Under these conditions differences in the weights of reproductive tissues showed minimal variation with housing condition after 20 days of treatment. At that time males reared in soiled bedding taken from the cage of an adult female had accelerated development compared with control males. In Exp. 4, males were housed alone or in a split cage with an adult female which was separated by a wire mesh or a solid, opaque barrier. Males separated by a solid barrier from their female cagemates for 40 days had reproductive tissue weights equivalent to those measured in males reared alone. Taken together these results suggest that the presence of an adult female has dramatic effects on body growth and development of reproductive target tissues in young male musk shrews. Male–female social interactions could play an important role in the timing of puberty in this opportunistically breeding tropical mammal. Keywords: puberty; musk shrew; reproduction; androgens; pheromones; insectivore
    Suncus
    Shrew
    Citations (10)