Ctenomys haigi . The tuco-tuco (name that comes from its territorial vocalization, which is similar to a “tuc-tuc-tuc” tapping) is a subterranean rodent with more than 60 species exclusive to South America . These subterranean rodents are an excellent animal model for chronobiological, behavioral, ecological and adaptation to extreme environments studies.
Summary
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- 1 Features
- 2Historia natural
- 3 He lives
- 4 Distribution
- 5 Food and customs
- 6 Playback
- 7 Health importance
- 8 Economic damages
- 9 Investigations
- 10Fuentes
Features
These rodents adapted to underground life, have particular morphological, physiological and behavioral characteristics that define them as an excellent study model for various scientific investigations. Their weight can vary between 100-1000g, males are larger and more aggressive than females, for which they compete by forming harems . They are characterized by having a large head in relation to the rest of the body, large and beveled incisors (often orange in color), flattened snout, subcylindrical trunk, and up to 25 cm in total body length.
Natural history
Their name derives from the sound they make inside them and reverberates outside with an echo, being able to confuse their location. The burrow has a main entrance and several holes around it, which could be for ventilation. They are subterranean in habits, they dig burrows in the ground and live inside them, going outside for brief periods to cut vegetables and take them to the cave, where they feed. The burrows are grouped in colonies that can be relatively small or occupy several hectares. The most studied social species is Ctenomys sociabilis .
Habitat
Its primary habitat is the Patagonian steppe , but it is also found in the Bajo Monte and Valdivian Temperate Forest ecoregions . In the underground tunnels where it lives, day-night variations in environmental parameters are minimized and exposure to light is sporadic.
Distribution
This genus is distributed between Argentina , Brazil , Uruguay , Bolivia , Paraguay and Peru and inhabits a wide range of environments (from coastal dunes with sandy soil, to high altitude grasslands with compact soil).
Food and customs
Its diet is general herbivorous , feeding mainly on grasses. They spend most of their lives inside closed galleries that can reach 25 meters in length and which they dig very quickly through the use of their powerful front claws and incisors, with which they can break up rough (calcareous rock). Tuco-tucos eat the roots of native plants, most of them colonized by plant-growth-promoting fungi .
Reproduction
Litter size ranges from 2 to 4. Key Reproductive Characteristics gonochoric / gonochoristic / dioecious (separate sexes) sexual.
Sanitary importance
By later depositing their faeces in the tunnels, they act as key dispersers of these fungi. This could play an important role in the dynamics of the structure of desert plant communities by facilitating the establishment of new seedlings .
The “Tucos Tucos” are subterranean rodents in general that have a great importance in terms of the ecological role and the ecosystem services they perform, since they could be considered as ecosystem engineers , and they are the ones that directly or indirectly modulate the availability of resources. for other species, causing changes in biotic or abiotic resources , such as soil aeration, seed dispersal , etc.
economic damage
It is important to note that these rodents have not been identified as disease vectors so far and that many species are also critically endangered due to the fragmentation of their habitat by human action.
Research
The particular adaptations that this genus presents to the subterranean environment have made these animals an important object of study for many research groups around the world. These environmental peculiarities imply specific behavioral and physiological adaptations to adjust to subterranean life, and this is precisely what interests scientists.
The tuco-tuco is also an excellent model for behavioral research related to its vocalizations, since communication within the tunnels acquires particular characteristics. The ethology research line of the CRILAR (Regional Center for Scientific Research and Technology Transfer) describes the acoustic parameters of the song of the tuco-tuco, and how they vary according to age, sexual, social and interspecific differences.
The lines of research are very diverse and include topics such as physiology , distribution, behavior, learning, anatomy and their evolutionary history, among others.