Postnatal development of subterranean habits in tuco-tucos Ctenomys talarum (Rodentia, Caviomorpha, Ctenomyidae)

Abstract

Postnatal development of subterranean habits was investigated in Los Talas’ tuco-tuco Ctenomys talarum, a subterranean caviomorph rodent endemic from South America. Since in this species, some key morpho-functional traits related to scratch-digging behaviour—a form of underground progression—are already present during early ontogeny and develop progressively, we predicted that this behaviour expresses early during postanatal development and its performance enhances gradually from pups to adults. The process of acquisition of different behaviours associated to the construction of a burrow system was recorded in 11 individuals, each one coming from different litters, inside a terrarium filled with natural soil. We found that scratch-digging and burrowing behaviours expressed early during postnatal development, particularly, during lactancy. The digging of a “true burrow” clearly preceded the dispersal age, with a high inter-individual variability, from 18 (lactancy) to 47 (post-weaning) postnatal days. Pups could lose the soil using their foreclaws and remove the accumulated substrate using their hindfeet as adults do. During lactancy individuals could construct a simple burrow to shelter, and first burrow construction occurred in the absence of either a burrowing demonstrator or an early subterranean environment (a natal burrow). However, certain features of the complex burrow system that characterize this species, such as lateral branches and nest chamber, just appeared after weaning. The time elapsed until animals started to dig and the time dedicated to underground activities varied with age, decreasing and increasing, respectively. In sum, our results show that—in C. talarum—immature digging behaviour gets expressed early during ontogeny, and develops progressively. The role of the early ability to build its own burrow and its possible function influencing the development of musculoskeletal traits and on efficiency for such conduct is discussed.