Bait selection in laminate-toothed rats and other Southern African small mammals

Abstract

Small Mammals ♦VYBOR p r z y n ę t y p r z e z g r y z o n i e z r o d z a j u o t o m y s i i n n e m a ł e s s a k i P O Ł U D N IO W E J A F R Y K I Ken W ILLA N Willan K., 1986: Bait selection in laminate-toothed rats and other Southern African small mammals. Acta theriol., 31, 26: 354-363 [With 2 Tables] The herbivorous laminate-toothed rats O tom ys spp. are reputedly trap-shy. Members of this ecologically important taxon may have been undersampled in several southern African field studies where the baits used were unsuited to attracting O tom ys. A bait comprising rolled oats, currants and sunflower oil has proved highly effective for O. irroratus, but ineffective for O. slogq etti and O. unisulcatus. Insecti-vores respond comparatively poorly to this bait, but for omnivorous rodents it is as effective as other baits commonly used in southern African field studies.