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Features of the Biology of the False Zokor (Myospalax aspalax, Rodentia, Spalacidae) from Eastern Transbaikalia

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Abstract

The features, population characteristics of reproduction, nutrition, and lifestyle of an extremely poorly studied narrow-range species of underground rodents—the false zokor (Myospalax aspalax)—have been described on the basis of original field materials. The data were obtained within the Russian part of the species range in Zabaikal’skii krai. The false zokor is characterized by a pronounced sexual dimorphism in body size (males are larger) and a predominance of females in the population. Mating takes place in April; at other times of the year, zokors lead a solitary lifestyle. The size of the brood is small: 3.7 embryos per breeding female. Their preferred food is bulbs and rhizomes of Allium, Thermopsis, Phragmites, and Leymus. In Eastern Transbaikalia, they are active in winter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nature Resources, Ecology, and Cryology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chita, 672014, Russia

    Yu. A. Bazhenov

  2. Daurskii State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Nizhnii Tsasuchei, Zabaikal’skii krai, 674480, Russia

    Yu. A. Bazhenov

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  1. Yu. A. Bazhenov
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Bazhenov.

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Original Russian Text © Yu.A. Bazhenov, 2016, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2016, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 458–464.

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Bazhenov, Y.A. Features of the Biology of the False Zokor (Myospalax aspalax, Rodentia, Spalacidae) from Eastern Transbaikalia. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 44, 807–812 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359017070020

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359017070020

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