Life History of the Kangaroo Rat eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 61 pages of information about Life History of the Kangaroo Rat.

Life History of the Kangaroo Rat eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 61 pages of information about Life History of the Kangaroo Rat.

TABLE 2.—­Quantity of storage per den correlated with time of year and growth conditions of preceding season (chiefly from United States Range Reserve near the Santa Rita Mountains, Ariz.).

------------+-----------+-----------+-----------
|           |           |
Den No.    | Date.     | Quantity. | Preceding
|           |           | season.
|           |           |
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------
|   1918.   | Grams.  |
|           |           |
1          | Feb. 7    |    4,127  |  Good.
2          | Mar. 9    |    3,615  |    Do.
3          | July 25   |      401  |  Poor.
4          | Sept. 20  |      734  |    Do.
5          | Sept. 21  |    2,520  |    Do.
6          | Oct. 17   |    2,315  |    Do.
7          | Dec. 20   |    1,247  |    Do.
|           |           |
|   1919.   |           |
|           |           |
8          | Feb. 7    |    1,600  |    Do.
9          | Mar. 13   |      370  |    Do.
10         | Apr. 7    |      180  |    Do.[3]
11         | Apr. 9    |      117  |  Good.[3]
12         | May 7     |      298  |    Do.[3]
13         | May 11    |    1,590  |    Do.
14         | Aug. 8    |        5  |  Good.
15         | Sept. 4   |      151  |    Do.
16         | Oct. 17   |      313  |    Do.
17         | Oct. 18   |      583  |    Do.
18         | Oct. 25   |    3,410  |    Do.
19         | Nov. 1    |    3,026  |    Do.
20         | Dec. 13   |    2,816  |    Do.
|           |           |
|   1920.   |           |
|           |           |
21         | Jan. 31   |    1,173  |    Do.
|           |           |
|   1921.   |           |
|           |           |
22         | Jan. 1    |    2,333  |  Fair.
23[4]      | Nov. 7    |    1,685  |  Good.
24[4]      | Nov. 8    |    5,750  |    Do.
|           |           |
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------

[Footnote 3:  Changing from poor summer season of 1918 to excellent
spring growth of 1919.]

[Footnote 4:  From near the Sandia Mountains, N. Mex.; others from
United States Range Reserve, near the Santa Rita Mountains, Ariz.]

In presenting Table 2, showing quantity of storage per burrow correlated with the time of year and the character of the preceding growing season, the fact may be emphasized that the growing seasons in southern Arizona are two in number—­early spring and midsummer.  The spring season is the less important, the plants consisting chiefly of a variety of small annuals, while the important range grasses make their chief growth and head out almost exclusively in the July-August rainy season.  It may be noted also that the actual increases in storage appear somewhat after the growth period proper, since storing does not get well under way until the seed crop is mature.  The banner-tailed kangaroo rat shows a marked adaptability to different foods available in the neighborhood of its burrows.  It must, perforce, adapt itself and its storage program to the food that it can get, and this varies enormously with the climatic conditions of successive seasons.  The large numbers present in suitable localities clearly indicate that the animal is successful in meeting the changing and sometimes extremely adverse conditions of its environment.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Life History of the Kangaroo Rat from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.