PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF STUDYING THE SUMMER ACTIVITY OF THE HAMSTER RADDE (MESOCRICETUS RADDEI AVARICUS) BY THE METHODS OF RADIO TELEMETRY AND THE FAIS SYSTEM IN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF MOUNTAINOUS DAGHESTAN

The summer daily activity of the Radde hamster was studied using radio telemetry and the FAIS system. It is shown that the daily activity of the Radde hamster varies significantly from May to August for both males and females, which is associated with different tasks solved by hamsters in each month. Due to the behavior of the Radde hamster, the radio telemetry method does not allow us to get a reliable picture of daily activity.

Hibernation Records on the Incisor Surface in the Turkish Hamster (Mesocricetus brandti) (Rodentia, Cricetidae)

The teeth of an adult female of the Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti) after hibernation in semi-natural conditions were examined to reveal a relationship between the hibernation pattern on the incisor surface and the data of a temperature logger. The female spent the winter in a burrow prepared by herself inside a wintering cage from October 2018 till May 2019. A temperature logger was implanted to the animal intraperitoneally to record body temperature at 20-min intervals. Regular bouts of hypothermia started in mid-October. The longevity of each hypothermia bout increased whereas the minimum body temperature decreased and reached its lowest value in March. Later, the process proceeded backwards until the end of the heterothermia period. In the apical region of the incisor, daily increments were wide and well-distinguished which indicates that they had formed before the onset of the heterothermal period. In the basal region, closer to the growth zone, the increments were narrow and distinct, and their number corresponded in general to the number of normothermia episodes bouts. At the very base of the incisor as well as at its apical part, typical daily increments were revealed again. However, no correlation between the longevity of normothermia bouts and the width of increments was found. These data varied greatly from two other hamsters. In the Ciscaucasian hamster (Mesocricetus raddei) the number and character of increments comply with the number and duration of normothermia bouts, in the Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus), the “hibernation zone” was not recorded on the incisor surface. The Turkish hamster demonstrate an intermediate pattern, which we explain by quite different hibernation conditions of these species.

THE STATUS OF THE POPULATION AND FEATURES OF ECOLOGY BY HAMSTERS FROM THE GENUS MESOCRICETUS IN THE CONDITIONS OF REDUCTION OF CROPS OF GRAINS IN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF MOUNTAINOUS DAGHESTAN

For the last 25 years the structure of the agriculture in Mountainous Daghestan was cardinally changed - the area of crops has decreased by 3 times, and the crops of grain crops have been replaced by vegetables. These changes were directly reflected on the state of the population of the hamsters Mesocricetus raddei and M. brandti. The range of these species has become fragmented, and their number grew shorter. The change in land use conditions signifi-cantly affected the nature of the use of the territory and the diurnal surface activity of the Ciscaucasian hamster.