A new method of determining diets of rodents

Abstract

Diets of rodents often have been studied by analysis of feces or stomach contents. Analysis of feces is highly inaccurate because of differential digestion, and the analysis of stomach contents requires the sacrifice of large numbers of individuals and cannot be used for some species because of conservation considerations. We developed a new method for determining diets of rodents by stomach pumping that is as accurate as previously used analysis of stomach contents. Animals are not sacrificed, so it is possible to collect more than one sample from each individual and study a population of rodents for a long time without harming it. It also allows studies that would otherwise be legally or morally impossible.