Behaviour and Breeding in Captivity of the Namaqua Gerbil Desmodillus Auricularis (Cricetidae: Gerbillinae)

Abstract

Desmodillus auricularis was kept in observation cages and subjected to an increased number of light-hours. The animal is nocturnal and its activity rhythm was adjusted using a red light to simulate darkness during the day. Three litters were produced from one pair and observations were made on twelve other litters born in the laboratory from pregnant field-trapped specimens. The breeding season appears to be all year. Litter size varied from one to five with a mean of 3,25. The gestation period was twenty-one days and gestation of a post-partum pregnancy was thirty-five days. The young were not attached to the nipple except when suckling. Behaviour is discussed with special reference to individual behaviour and parent-young relationship. Much of the general behaviour-pattern appears to be typical of most desert-adapted rodents. Hoarding and sandbathing were exhibited.