SURVIVAL OF NAKED MOLE-RATS MARKED BY IMPLANTABLE TRANSPONDERS AND TOE-CLIPPING

We compared survival of free-living naked mole-rats, Heterocephalus gl aber, marked by toe-clipping and implantable transponder chips. Althou gh survival was marginally higher for toe-clipped animals than for tho se with transponder chips in five of six colonies, no significant diff erences were found between the two marking techniques. Comparison of t he costs and benefits of the two marking techniques suggests that toe- clipping is preferable for marking small fossorial mammals in remote a reas.