Feeding and digesting fiber and tannins by an herbivorous rodent, Octodon degus (Rodentia: Caviomorpha)

Feeding habits of capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, Linnaeus 1766), in the Ecological Reserve of Taim (ESEC - Taim) - south of Brazil

“…Lord (1994) reported that the capybaras in Venezuela selected species to graze, only passing to the other when it was drained. Theoretically, the decrease in the nutritious value and digestibility of the plants reduced its selectivity and palatability of the herbivores, so that when they ingested less nutritious plants they could compensate eating a larger number of species (Bozinovic et al, 1997).…”

“…These animals possess strategies that allow the best nutritional use. On the other hand, the plants present defense mechanisms, such as polymeric complex as silica and lignin that reduce the digestibility (Shepherd and Cohen, 1997); tannins, or toxins that repel, or kill (Bozinovic et al, 1997), besides protection structures as the thorns, or trichomes (Howe and Westley, 1988). The content of fibers and the presence of secondary metabolites can influence in the foraging behavior and digestive efficiency of the herbivores (Bozinovic et al, 1997).…”

Seasonal acclimatization in water flux rate, urine osmolality and kidney water channels in free-living degus: molecular mechanisms, physiological processes and ecological implications

“…Veloso, personal communication). Although small mammals such as degus may select sparsely distributed, high-quality plants or use coprophagy to recycle water and nutrients (Kenagy et al, 1999), during nutritional-water bottlenecks they must consume low-quality food out of necessity rather than choice (Bozinovic, 1995(Bozinovic, , 1997Bozinovic et al, 1997;TorresContreras and Bozinovic, 1997). Indeed, the differences in seasonal water flux in O. degus are probably a product of differences in consumption of preformed water in plants.…”

Trade-off between energy budget, thermogenesis and behavior in Swiss mice under stochastic food deprivation

“…When small animals were faced with variations of food quality and availability, they could adapt by altering digestive capability (Bozinovic et al, 1997;Hume et al, 1993;Nagy and Negus, 1993;Pei et al, 2001a, b;Zhao and Wang, 2007). However, neither mice nor rats decreased apparent energy absorption efficiency during the food restriction period (Gursoy et al, 2001;Hambly and Speakman, 2005;Hill et al, 1985).…”