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The bathing behavior of the chinchilla: Effects of deprivation
Abstract
Four chinchilla were deprived of the sand in which they rub their fur by spinning. With increased levels of deprivation the number of spins increased and the time course of the spins was altered.
... Another rodent, the chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), displays a peculiar behavior known as sand-bathing: when presented with a box full of sand, it will readily start rolling in the box, rotating along its longitudinal axis, to rub its fur in the sand (Stern and Merari, 1969). This natural and spontaneous behavior can be easily elicited in a laboratory setting and sand could be used as an animal-friendly reward in instrumental learning tests without the need of any previous deprivation condition (Redman, 1974). ...
... 49 The dust is placed at a depth of 2 to 3 cm (1 in.) in a pan, such as a plastic dishpan, that is big enough for the chinchilla to roll around in. 36 A chinchilla in the wild may spend up to an hour dust bathing, rolling, and fluffing its fur. 56 The dust bath can be kept clean and free of feces by removing it from the cage after use. Excessive use of dust baths can lead to conjunctivitis, especially in young chinchillas. ...
... 49 The dust is placed at a depth of 2 to 3 cm (1 in.) in a pan, such as a plastic dishpan, that is big enough for the chinchilla to roll around in. 36 A chinchilla in the wild may spend up to an hour dust bathing, rolling, and fluffing its fur. 56 The dust bath can be kept clean and free of feces by removing it from the cage after use. Excessive use of dust baths can lead to conjunctivitis, especially in young chinchillas. ...
... Sometimes, watery fruits of cacti also are stored within burrows (Opazo 1911). Chilean chinchillas clean their fine fur by sand or soil bathing (Stern and Merari 1969). In wild, they repeatedly bathe in the same place, thus leaving a barren circle of fine dust ca. ...
... Gerbils (Tortora et al. 1974), chinchillas (Stern & Merari 1969), and kangaroo rats (Borchelt et al. 1976) seem to remove lipids from their body hair via their sandbathing behaviours, as sandbathing frequencies increased in these species after sand deprivation. Griswold et al. (1977) suggested that kangaroo rats adjusted their sandbathing and grooming frequencies in response to the quantity of oil on the body surface. ...
Sandbathing and grooming behaviours of two species of kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami and D. microps) were compared after zero and three days of sand deprivation. Results showed that D. merriami sandbathed and groomed at higher frequencies and over a longer time period than D. microps. Comparison of hair lipids revealed that D. merriami produced more oils. The data support the hypothesis that lipids in the hair are removed by sandbathing and suggest that D. merriami requires more pelage maintenance than D. microps. Three hypotheses about the function of lipids in the pelage of kangaroo rats are discussed.
Seven experiments with Meriones unguiculatus assessed the thermoregulatory consequence of Harderian secretion and fur anointment with lipids by autogrooming. Harderianectomy reduced the animal's capability to withstand cold (3–5°C) and wetness. During a 9 to 15 min exposure to cold-wet stress glandless animals lost an average of 4.6°C core body temperature, compared to an average loss of 1.6°C among intact animals. A comparable loss in body temperature occurred in animals whose fur lipids were removed with shampooing. Shaved animals coated with petroleum jelly withstood the cold-wet stress with a lesser decrease in body temperature than animals without the exogenous coat of jelly. The in vitro insulating qualities of fur lipids were demonstrated by blocking a cold air stream with various layers of lipids. The degree of insulation was related to the thickness of the lipid layers. Fur lipids were extracted from Harderianectomized and shampooed animals. Relative to controls, both procedures resulted in approximately 40–50% loss of fur lipds. The loss seen in gerbils following Harderianectomy was not found in the rat, golden hamster or C57 and DBA strains of inbred mice. Thus, in the gerbil the behavioral spread of Harderian lipids during a thermoregulatory groom insulated the gerbil from cold and wetness. The use of insulating lipids may be related to the gerbil's ecology in the cold deserts of Mongolia and Northeast China.
The sandbathing and grooming behaviour of ten kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami) were recorded on sand and woodchip substrates after periods of 0, 1, 5 and 10 days without sand. Sandbathing is restricted to the sandy substrate. Grooming occurs on both, but with a higher frequency on sand. Increases in both grooming and sandbathing occur with increasing sand deprivation, but the temporal patterning does not change. D. merriami tends to alternate sandbathing components in contrast to other Dipodomys species. Lipid on the pelage increases noticeably with sand deprivation and decreases during a sandbathing bout; sand appears to be removed from the pelage by shaking and grooming. These findings suggest a three-process system for care of the body surface.
The sandbathing and marking behaviors of 20 Mongolian gerbils were observed after 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 days of sand deprivation. The frequency of three behavioral components of sandbathing significantly increased as a function of deprivation. Deprivation also significantly increased territorial marking; and, as expected, males marked more frequently than females. The results are examined in terms of an oil regulation hypothesis for sand-bathing. The effects of deprivation support the hypothesis.
Dustbathing behavior of Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) was observed following 1, 3, and 5 days of dust deprivation. The sequence of dustbathing components was generally variable, but one aspect of the sequence was highly stereotyped. Different levels of dust deprivation did not alter the sequence in any consistent way, but the frequency of the dust toss and head rub components increased significantly with deprivation of dust. A model is proposed which suggests that dustbathing functions to regulate the amount of surface lipids on the plumage.
Three experiments assessed the importance of behavioral regulation of hair lipids for thermoregulation in Meriones unguiculatus. Experiment I demonstrated that animals exposed for 8-11 days at 34 degrees C had reduced body-hair lipids and a smaller increase in body temperature when exposed to tungsten light radiation than animals exposed to 5 degrees C. Experiment II confirmed that the effect was due to differential hair lipids and not heat acclimation, as the hyperthermic response and change in hair lipids were attenuated when animals were allowed to sandbathe at 34 degrees C. Experiment III showed that animals tested periodically at 30 degrees C sandbathe more frequently than those tested at 5 degrees C. Body-heat regulation is associated with variations in hair lipids and associated changes in coat color and the ability to reflect or absorb radiant energy (Thiessen, Pendergrass, & Harriman (1982) Journal of Thermal Biology, 7, 51-66). Sandbathing is temperature dependent and apparently mediates thermoregulatory changes in heat absorption and reflectance.
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