Spice Gerbil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote >They have learned to trust you and now exploration >takes priority over delicacies. Very nice to have tame >little gerbils running up your arm. >:) >
I sometimes get the impression that gerbil's behaviour frustrates behaviourologists because they do not obey all the usual rules of animal behaviour. They prefer exploration over eating. They prefer testing unknown food over eating known safe sources of food. Even when food is scarce they prefer exploring and unknown foods to eating known food sources. It seems obvious to me that gerbils have adopted these strategies precisely because food is scarce where they live so there is a reward for exploring, and conservative behaviour is dangerous. -- Julian [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Gerbil Society http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
