Effect of Previous Photoperiodic Conditions and Visual Stimulation on Food Storage and Hibernation in the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)

The Evolution of Food Caching by Birds and Mammals

“…Eastern chipmunks make both larder and scatter hoards (23,100), apparently choosing the type that optimizes foraging under each set of conditions (58). In controlled laboratory conditions, individuals vary their levels of fat deposition (15,86,100), the amount of stored food (15,65), and their storing method (in larder or scatter hoards; 65) in response to environmen tal variables. The length of torpor varies among individuals (15,86,133).…”

“…In controlled laboratory conditions, individuals vary their levels of fat deposition (15,86,100), the amount of stored food (15,65), and their storing method (in larder or scatter hoards; 65) in response to environmen tal variables. The length of torpor varies among individuals (15,86,133). It is longer in females than in males (133) on the average, although members of both sexes may opt for no torpor at all.…”

Evidence of climatic adaptation in spontaneous torpor amoung Pouched mice Saccostomus campestris from southern Africa

“…Several studies have previously reported geographical variation in the incidence of torpor between different populations of identical or closely related rodent species (Brenner and Lyle 1975, Hill 1975, Heath and Lynch 1983, Thompson 1985, Tannenbaum and Pivorun 1984, 1987. In each case, animals from warmer localities rarely entered torpor or did so in fewer numbers than those from colder areas, which suggests that selection for torpor was greater in more energetically stressful environments (Tannenbaum and Pivorun 1988).…”

“…Hill 1975). According to Tannenbaum and Pivorun (1988) "because small mammals from different environments do not experience identical seasonal fluctuations in stress-provoking stimuli it is reasonable to expect them to exhibit different tendencies toward torpor" and several studies have described geographical differences in the expression of torpor which are associated with differences in climatic conditions (Brenner and Lyle 1975, Hill 1975, Heath and Lynch 1983, Tannenbaum and Pivorun 1984, Thompson 1985.…”