Abstract: A variety of animals store food to cope with temporally variable or unpredictable food supplies. We have little knowledge of the food hoarding behavior of David's rock squirrels (Sciurotamias davidianus),a species endemic to China and mainly distributed in the hilly temperate zone in northern China. We constructed semi-natural enclosures in the Donglingshan mountains area in which we investigated the squirrels' food hoarding behavior by providing them with tagged walnuts (Juglans regia). The results showed that David's rock squirrels exhibited both larder and scatter oarding, and the latter seemed to be their preferred choice. Artificial pilferage of hoarded food items had no significant effect on the hoarding behavior of squirrels. Within the enclosures, squirrels tended to select certain sites to scatter hoard walnuts, and no walnuts were consumed at the location where they were provisioned. The possible factors affecting food hoarding of David's rock squirrels were discussed.

Key words: Donglingshan Mountains, Sciurotamias davidianus, Larder hoarding, Scatter hoarding, Walnuts

摘要： 许多动物都能够贮藏食物以应对一定时期的食物短缺。岩松鼠是中国特有的一种啮齿动物,主要分布于华北山地和丘陵地区,对于其食物贮藏行为还了解不多。我们在北京东灵山地区建立了半自然围栏,在围栏一角设置一木质巢箱供其休息,在围栏中心设一食盘(给食处),就岩松鼠对核桃(已预先标记)的贮藏特征进行了观察。每只受试动物在实验开始前6 h断食,于13∶ 00 左右,随机选择1 只岩松鼠,将其放入围栏中适应2 ～ 3 h。随后,在给食处放置20 枚已标记的核桃。于第二天同一时间进入围栏,检查并记录岩松鼠对核桃的处理情况,将埋藏、取食和剩余的核桃全部移出,另置20 枚新的核桃,继续实验。第三天,重复上述检查和记录,将岩松鼠及被其处理的核桃全部移出,清理巢箱、整理围栏。随后放入第二只岩松鼠,重复上述实验过程,如遇恶劣气候,则实验顺延,直至实验结束。结果表明:岩松鼠兼具集中贮藏和分散贮藏两种食物贮藏方式,并且分散方式是其主要的食物贮藏方式;岩松鼠在围栏中选择一定的位置贮藏食物;文中还讨论了可能影响岩松鼠食物贮藏的因素。

关键词: 岩松鼠, 集中贮藏, 分散贮藏, 核桃, 东灵山