Ehrenfried Ehrenstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>Julian and Jackie wrote:
>> However, they
>> are normally active for periods during the day.
>>
>True.
>Wild living gerbils show two maxima of surface activity, which are
>obviously mainly in the _diurnal_ period:
>The first about 5 hours after sunrise and the second 1 or 2 hours
>before or direct at sundown.
>And they allways prefer to be underground (sleeping?) at midday.
>
>May be, it's not only light, but temperature dependent too. Nights are
>too cold in Mongolia?
>
Mongolia is famed for its clear skies. This maximises temperature
extremes.
>Unfortunately, what wild gerbils do, when underground, isn't reported
>(was it censored by the russian scientist? ;-)).
I often wonder this also! Not the censoring, but what they do in their
burrows. I guess they do a fair bit of burrowing!
> So may be and I don't
>doubt it, the wilds are, as like as the domesticated ones, nocturnal
>too. So, I think too, the question in the subject "Noctural _or_
>Diurnal" is wrong because they are definitely both: diurnal _and_
>nocturnal.
>
This assumes that nocturnal and diurnal are equivalent and opposite
words. Nocturnal can mean active *only* at night, but diurnal does not
mean active *only* during the day.
>And perhaps, if the cage is located at a place, where it becomes cold
>at night, our pets would be more diurnal too? Whats your experience
>with yours in the unheated garage?
I can't say I have noticed a change. In the day and night they will tend
to be active a lot when you enter the garage. And immediately they will
become active to see what is happening at any hour.
The problem with studying gerbil behaviour is to leave them undisturbed
by humans!
--
Julian
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* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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