TY - JOUR
AU - Wellwood, A., A.
AB - In the course of rearing field mice (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in the laboratory, an experiment was set up to determine preferences for different kinds of cereal grains. The cereals used were wheat, oats, barley and cracked corn; pumpkin seeds also were made available in some of the tests. A male and a female field mouse, aged five months and kept in the same pen, were provided with four glass containers that were filled with different cereal grains. During the first two weeks, a decided preference was shown for corn and wheat over oats and barley regardless of the sequence of the feeding dishes. In the third week, only barley and oats were provided. Neither of these was eaten readily, and no preference was evident. Wheat and corn were provided during the fourth week, and some preference was shown for wheat over corn. In the fifth week, corn and pumpkin seeds were made available; the corn was eaten, but the pumpkin seeds were left. A final test series in the fifth week consisted of barley, wheat, corn, and pumpkin seeds. The wheat was preferred to corn, while the barley and pumpkin seeds were scarcely touched at all. The order of preference for the above foods in the diet of field mice was concluded to be wheat, corn, oats and barley, and pumpkin seeds. An additional dietary item for which the field mice showed great fondness was living white grubs. The grubs were consumed in large numbers in strong preference to all other foods provided during this experiment. It is suggested that this fondness for June beetle larvae may indicate economic importance of field mice in the natural control of the June beetle. 1956 American Society of Mammalogists
TI - Some Food Preferences in Field Mice
JO - Journal of Mammalogy
DO - 10.2307/1376718
DA - 1956-05-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/some-food-preferences-in-field-mice-bF3cTiIG5N
SP - 297
EP - 298
VL - 37
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -