Life History of the Kangaroo Rat by Charles Taylor Vorhies;Walter P. (Walter Penn) Taylor
page 54 of 75 (72%)
page 54 of 75 (72%)
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to 5,455 grams in a lot from Albuquerque, N. Mex. (Table 1, den 24, and
Pl. VIII, Fig. 1). [Footnote 5: This amount of dry grama grass seed (heads) amounts to approximately a bushel.] Of the species other than grasses found stored in these dens, mesquite beans (_Prosopis velutina_) are most important both by weight and number of dens containing them. The total for the 22 Range Reserve dens is 1,570 grams, or 35.9 per cent of the seeds other than grasses, but only 5.1 per cent of the total storage. In bulk mesquite beans do not loom up large, as they are probably the heaviest material stored. Sections of pods which must have been dragged into the burrows are found, some of them certainly being much too long for carriage in the pouches. The species of plant other than grass found in the largest quantity in any one den, however, was _Aplopappus gracilis_, not recorded in quantity from any den until the excavation of the twenty-second, and then found in a very large bulk of soft, fluffy material, with most of the seeds separated from the heads, and weighing 1,030 grams (Table 1, den 22). Any of the food materials above listed are likely to be found in the cheek pouches, while in addition such extraneous matter as stones and feces have also been found. All species of plants stored are accessible in the immediate vicinity of the mound, and when any particular plant is found seeding in abundance in the vicinity of the den it is likely to be represented in the storage. Usually the animals can be readily trapped with almost any kind of grain bait, as oats, rolled oats, rolled barley, and wheat; and nut meats also are attractive, though we have no record of the storing of any true nut in the dens, such not being available in the range of the animal on the Range Reserve. |
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