Diverse styles of running-wheel behavior in antelope ground squirrels

Abstract

The running-wheel behavior of white-tailed antelope squirrels was studied in the laboratory by quantitative analysis of wheel revolutions and by visual inspection of video recordings with the assistance of Google Nest’s detection algorithm. There was great interindividual diversity of running styles, although no systematic difference was found between male and female squirrels. Some animals ran on the outside of the wheel instead of inside, some ran consistently inside the wheel but alternating directions every few seconds, some ran on a virtual wheel while avoiding the actual wheel and doing back flips in the air instead, and some ran around the cage and occasionally hit the wheel thus generating a stable record of wheel revolutions. On average, the squirrels woke up an hour after lights-on, started activity on the running wheel about 40 minutes later, ran for 10 hours covering a distance of 2 km, and fell asleep about an hour after lights-off. This pattern of running-wheel behavior partially resembles that of laboratory mice, but its extreme diversity is unique to this species.