Premium
NOTES ON BREEDING OF SMALL MAMMALS IN UGANDA
Author(s) -
SOUTHERN H. N.,
HOOK OLIVER
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
proceedings of the zoological society of london
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0370-2774
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1963.tb01870.x
Subject(s) - mastomys , breed , biology , seasonal breeder , dry season , wet season , rodent , ecology , zoology , period (music) , physics , acoustics
A collection of small mammals, made in Uganda and Kenya between mid‐May and mid‐August, 1958, showed a high proportion of animals in breeding condition. Previous reports on this subject suggest that African rodents breed throughout the year with a peak covering the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry. For the one species thoroughly studied by previous workers, Mastomys natalensis, this peak of breeding continues well into, and in one locality (Katanga) throughout, the dry season. This may be a modification of a basic rhythm in a species which has become semi‐commensal with man. Most information was obtained for two forest species of rodent, Praomys morio and Lophuromys flavopunctatus. Both were breeding intensively during the period of study, Praomys being about a month in advance of the other species.