APPLICATION OF RADIOTELEMETRY TO THE SURVEY OF ACORN DISPERSAL BY APODEMUS MICE

We examined the applicability of radiotelemetry to studies of acorn di spersal by Apodemus mice and compared its efficiency with the of this spool-and-line method. installation of a transmitter (2.2 g) onto acor ns did not interfere with the transporting and feeding behavior of the mice. We were able to detect all transmitter-installed acorns and fol low the daily changes in the sites in which they were hoarded, while w e missed 59% of the spool-tied acorns due to mice breaking the threads . Mice carried transmitter-installed acorns farther than spool-tied on es. The radiotelemetry method is superior to the spool-and-line method and useful for the study of hoarding behavior in rodents.