The pattern of bone remodeling of one of the most peculiar mammals in the world, the naked mole-rat (NMR), was assessed. NMRs are known for their long lifespans among rodents and for having low metabolic rates. We assessed ...

Biological rhythms are rhythmic fluctuations of biological functions that occur in almost all organisms and on several time scales. These rhythms are generated endogenously and entail the coordination of physiological ...

The social environment of animals can have profound implications on their behaviour and physiology. Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) are highly social with complex dominance hierarchies that influence both stress- ...

Effects of photophase illuminance (1, 10, 100 and 330 lx of white incandescent lighting) on daily rhythms of locomotor activity, urine production and 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (6-SMT; 10 versus 330 lx) were studied in nocturnal ...

The doubly labeled water (DLW) technique and indirect calorimetry enable measurement of an animal’s daily energy expenditure (DEE, kJ/day), resting metabolic rate (RMR, kJ/d), sustained metabolic scope (SusMS), body fat ...

Both exploratory behaviour and spatial memory are important for survival in dispersing animals. Exploratory behaviour is triggered by novel environments and having a better spatial memory of the surroundings provides an ...

Although grazing is the most common use of grassland, the ecological function of grassland far exceeds its productivity. Therefore, the protection of plant diversity is of the utmost importance and cannot be ignored. ...

INTRODUCTION : Burrowing activities of plateau pikas cause widespread bare patches in alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, affecting the plant community composition and forage production. However, it is not clear ...

Lateralization is the functional control of certain behaviors in the brain being processed by either the left or right hemisphere. Behavioral asymmetries can occur at an individual and population level, although population-level ...

African mole-rats (family: Bathyergidae) are strictly subterranean mammals that reside in extensive networks of underground tunnels. They are rarely, if ever, exposed to light and experience muted temperature ranges. Despite ...