Mammalian Biology 77 (2012) 420–427 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Mammalian Biology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mambio Original Investigation A maze-lover’s dream: Burrow architecture, natural history and habitat characteristics of Ansell’s mole-rat (Fukomys anselli) Jan ˇ Sklíba a,∗ , Vladimír Mazoch a , Hana Patzenhauerová b , Ema Hrouzková a , Matˇ ej Lövy a , Ondˇ rej Kott a , Radim ˇ Sumbera a a Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Braniˇ sovská 31, 370 05 ˇ Ceské Budˇ ejovice, Czech Republic b Department of Population Biology, Institute of Vertebrate Zoology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kvˇ etná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic article info Article history: Received 30 October 2011 Accepted 20 June 2012 Keywords: Bathyergidae Burrow system Sociality Habitat characteristics Subterranean mammal Fukomys anselli abstract The Ansell’s mole-rat (Fukomys anselli, Bathyergidae) is a small-sized social subterranean rodent whose distribution is confined to the Lusaka area in Zambia. It is an established model species for various lab- oratory studies, but until now the knowledge of its biology under natural conditions has been limited. Here, we provide the first comprehensive natural history and ecological data on a free living population from Miombo woodland. The Ansell’s mole-rat lives in groups of up to 13 individuals (mean 9.7 ± 2.5; N = 9 complete, fully established family groups) with a single breeding pair per group. The family groups occupy very large and complex burrow systems consisting of 0.5–2.8 km of tunnels (mean = 1.2 ± 0.6 km, N = 15), which are densely branched and reticulated especially around nests. Burrow systems of neigh- bouring family groups were often interconnected by a freely passable tunnel, which has never before been documented in any African mole-rats. Mole-rat food density in the study area was relatively low (10.0 ± 8.4 m -2 ) but its biomass was large (457 ± 889 g m -2 ). This, together with a relatively workable soil (cone resistance = 529 ± 26 N cm -2 at the end of June, with 10% soil humidity), indicates moderate ecological conditions, which disagrees with the aridity food-distribution hypothesis (AFDH) considering small body size and sociality in bathyergids adaptations to harsh environments. © 2012 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction African mole-rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia) are some of the “most subterranean” mammals as they feed almost entirely on underground storage organs of plants and rarely, if ever, come out of their elaborate burrow systems. Although all species of this family share many traits connected with their unique way of life, they differ remarkably in the degree of sociality. Whereas the genera Georychus, Bathyergus and Heliophobius are solitary, genera Heterocephalus, Cryptomys and Fukomys are social, living in multigenerational family groups (Bennett and Faulkes, 2000; Kock et al., 2006). Among the social bathyergids, some species have become widely studied model organisms. These are especially the two species traditionally denoted as eusocial – the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) of arid Eastern Africa, and the Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis) of arid South-Western Africa. Another widely studied social mole-rat, which, unlike the two abovementioned species, inhabits a mesic area in central Africa, is the Ansell’s mole-rat (Fukomys anselli, Burda et al., 1999). It is one ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +420 38 777 2257; fax: +420 38 531 0366. E-mail address: jskliba@yahoo.com (J. ˇ Sklíba). of the best studied wild mammals in the field of hearing research (e.g. Burda, 2006) and an established model also in many other fields of biology. Important discoveries made on this species con- cerned, for example, magnetic orientation (e.g. Burda et al., 1990), vision (e.g. Peichl et al., 2004), and longevity (e.g. Dammann and Burda, 2006). Studies on its free-living populations are, unfortu- nately, scarce (Scharff, 1999; Sichilima et al. 2011). Natural history, ecological, and other field data might enable more accurate inter- pretation of results of laboratory studies. Ecological data on the Ansell’s mole-rat are highly needed also for testing the main prediction of the aridity food-distribution hypothesis (AFDH; Jarvis et al., 1994), the most cited hypothesis explaining the origin of mole-rat sociality. The AFDH predicts a close association of ecological conditions and mole-rat social organ- isation, with social species able to live in areas with less abundant and more clumped food resources, and soil that is hard to exca- vate for most of the year. A recent meta-analysis of available data on food supply from different mole-rat localities revealed no clear separation of the localities inhabited by solitary, social or “eusocial” species (see Lövy et al., 2012). Nevertheless, more data, especially on mole-rats of mesic regions, are needed. Social mole-rats living under harsh ecological conditions are expected to reduce energetic costs of the groups by reducing 1616-5047/$ – see front matter © 2012 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2012.06.004