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The breeding season and diet of Arvicanthis in northern Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Safianu Rabiu  and
Martin Fisher
Safianu Rabiu
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Bayero University, PMB 3011, Kano, Nigeria
Martin Fisher
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Bayero University, PMB 3011, Kano, Nigeria
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Abstract

The breeding season and diet of the rat Arvicanthis was monitored from December 1983 to November 1985 in the semi-arid Sudan savanna at Kano, Nigeria, West Africa. Breeding began 1–2 months before the start of the rainy season and ceased at the beginning of the dry season. The diet of Arvicanthis was omnivorous, but with seasonal differences. Monocotyledons and dicotyledons predominated in the diet in the dry season, with seeds and insects increasing in the diet in the rainy season. The major differences between the ecology of Arvicanthis at Kano and on the East African savanna were that in East Africa the breeding season is longer and begins after the start of the rainy season. These and other dissimilarities between the biology of Arvicanthis in the two areas could be due to the effect of climatic differences on food supply and to the possible existence of different taxonomic groupings of Arvicanthis in the two regions.

Keywords

Arvicanthisbreeding seasondietfeeding ecologyMuridaeNigeriaNile ratreproductive ecologyRodentiasavanna
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , November 1989 , pp. 375 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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