Chinchilla mouse. (Abrocoma bennetti) . Very silky and soft fur, of a uniform grayish-brown color on the body, except in the central area of lighter shades.
Summary
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- 1 Features
- 2 Distribution
- 3 Habitat
- 4 Diet according to the seasons
- 5 Source
Characteristic
In juveniles, brown tones dominate, changing to gray pigments in adults. The tail is slightly shorter than the head and body combined. On his hands he has only 4 fingers.
Soles and palms of the fore and hind limbs covered with granulations. With large ears. They present different enamel figures for the upper and lower molars, a unique singularity among Chilean rodents.
Distribution
Its distribution is between the provinces of Elqui (IV Region) and north bank of the Itata River (VIII Region).
Habitat
It is nocturnal (80%) and nocturnal-twilight (20%) active. It uses the calls of the Octodon degus. While the pirca degu interrupts its feeding with sentinel behavior, A. bennetti feeds without interruption. It is generally associated with a high density of bushes.
Herbivorous (more specifically folivorous), it feeds on conductive tissues of shrubs and trees in the dry season, showing a specialization for the foliage of a given plant. In the thickets of the central zone, it forages herbs and plants in winter and spring , consuming foliage and seeds of Erodium cicutarium and Cardus pygnocephalus. It then switches to bush foraging, especially consuming conductive tissue from hawthorn (Acacia caven) or liter (Lithraea caustica) in the dry summer and fall months .
Diet according to the seasons
In Illapel it consumes Cordia decandra, Ephedra andina, Discorea humifusa, Bridgesia incisaefolia and in the autumn months the cespitosa grass Nassella chilensis; Flourensia thurifera and Llagunoa glandulosa in autumn and winter; Berberis glomerata in spring; Puya berteroniana, Notholaena mollis and Proustia baccharoides in autumn and spring .
- Intensely preyed upon by nocturnal birds of prey such as the snowy owl(Tyto alba). Also for the small one (Athene cunicularia) and the quique (Galictis cuja).
- Conservation status is classified as data deficient between Regions IV and VIII.
