Ethology 108, 557—564 (2002) Ó 2002 Blackwell Verlag, Berlin ISSN 0179–1613 Burrow Use and the Influence of Ectoparasites in Brants’ Whistling Rat Parotomys brantsii T. J. Roper*, T. P. Jackson , L. Conradtà & N. C. Bennett§ *School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa; àSchool of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK; §Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa Abstract In Brants’ whistling rat, Parotomys brantsii, single animals inhabit unusually complex burrow systems containing several nest chambers. We investigated burrow use and examined the effect of ectoparasites on choice of alternative nest chambers by radiotelemetrically monitoring the nocturnal sleeping locations of individual whistling rats, before and after treating themto removeectoparasites. Prior to treatment, animals used several different nest chambers within a single burrow, moving from one chamber to another every 1.6 d on average, and most individuals also slept in more than one burrow. Anti-parasite treatment reduced the rate at which animals switched from one nest chamber to another within a burrow. Screening of a separate sample of animals for ectoparasites revealed that they were infested with fleas, mainly Xenopsylla eridos. We suggest that by switching periodically fromone nest chamberto another, whistling rats reduce the rate at which ectoparasites, especially fleas, accumulate. Corresponding author: Professor T. J. Roper, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. E-mail:
[email protected] Introduction Burrowing is a dominant feature of mammalian behaviour: an estimated 447 of the 777 genera of terrestrial mammals contain species that spend at least some of their time in subterranean burrows (Kinlaw 1999).