Why do pouched mice ( Saccostomus campestris) hoard food?

Abstract

The function of food hoarding in Saccostomus campestris was investigated by examining the effect of photoperiod and temperature on the amount of two different types of food that were eaten and stored in artificial burrows by pouched mice from four different localities which experience contrasting climatic regimes. Food consumption was influenced by a variety of factors including the type of food, the sex of the individual, photoperiodic and temperature conditions, and the locality from which the animals originated. Females did not hoard significantly more food than males, which might have indicated that the solitary females hoard additional food specifically to provision their young. There was also no evidence that pouched mice hoard food to prepare for future periods of food scarcity, because there was no significant effect of photoperiod or temperature on hoarding activity, and the geographical variation in hoarding observed was not related to differences in climatic conditions at the different localities. However, geographical differences in food consumption and food hoarding were similar so that populations which ate the most food also hoarded the most food. Likewise, hoarding was selective and directed towards preferred food items. It therefore appears that food hoarding in this species may simply be a component of feeding behaviour and possibly serves to limit the amount of time spent processing food outside the burrow.