Food deprivation and drinking in two African rodents, Mastomys natalensis and Rhabdomys pumilio

Abstract

Mastomys natalensis and Rhabdomys pumilio from the moist Natal Midlands, South Africa, were deprived of food in the laboratory. Both species exhibited hypodipsia while fasting and, in terms of a hypothesis proposed by Wright (1976), therefore appear to be primarily mesophilic. R. pumilio tolerated up to five days without food and M. natalensis up to three days. R. pumilio appears adapted to occupy drier microhabitats than M. natalensis, and pre-adapted to colonize arid regions.

S. Afr. J. Zool.1987, 22(3)