TEMPORAL SEGREGATION IN COEXISTING ACOMYS SPECIES - THE POSSIBLE ROLEOF NEST-SITE

The co-existence of two species of spiny mouse of the genus Acomys is possible due to temporal segregation. While the common spiny mouse A. cahirinus is nocturnal, the golden spiny mouse A. russatus is diurnal when occurring with the former. An attempt was made to investigate the role of nest site as an environmental resource for competition betwee n these two species. Nine heterospecific pairs of mice of both the sam e or opposite sexes were tested using an observation pen with two nest ing places attached to each side. Each pair tested was observed in the pen over a period of 48h. In eight out of the nine different pairs, A . cahirinus occupied the original nest site of A. russatus. The replac ement was found to be not random. The results of this study show that A. cahirinus selects a preferred nest site and its vacated nest sites can be utilized by A. russatus.