Cape dune mole rat

Cape beach graves

The Cape beach graves ( Bathyergus suillus ) with a body length of 17.5 to 33 inches and weighing up to 1.5 kg of the greatest representatives of the family of sandy graves.

Appearance and way of life

The animal has an elongated, round body. The tail is short, the eyes have no visual perception functions more, but serve to locate air currents, for the hearing (sounds into the infrasonic range ) and the sense of smell is very well trained. The short front and rear limbs have sharp claws for digging extensive networks of Erdröhren with several chambers in which he lives. These are used for the storage of grasses or as a throw boiler for the boys. The excavation, it creates upward to the surface and thus forms small " molehill ". The coat is short and close-fitting brown colored to gray. The nose and the ears can be closed, at the tip of the nose he has long whiskers. His four sharp incisors are 2 millimeters wide and serve the animal in defense, digging and gnawing off its food, which consists mainly of tubers, roots and other plant parts, which it finds to his digs through the soil. An animal can move about 500 kg soil per month.

Occurrence

This species occurs only in the sand dunes and levels in the state of South Africa prior to the Cape of Good Hope.

Reproduction

In November or December, the female of this species take three to five well-developed young.

Threats and conservation measures

Since this type, carriers of diseases such as the plague and is considered food in some areas, it is hunted locally. Given their prevalence and the fact that it occurs even in protected areas, it is considered not at risk.

Swell

  • The great empire of the animals Publisher: Planet Media AG, train 1992 Page: 188.189 ISBN 3-8247-8614-1
  • Encyclopedia of Mammals Publisher: Weltbild Verlag GmbH Augsburg 1999 Page 228 ISBN 3-8289-1556-6
  • Encyclopedia of Mammals Publisher: Könnemann 2003 Page 690-694 ISBN 3-89731-928-4

Weblink

  • Commons: Cape beach graves - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Bathyergus suillus endangered in the IUCN Red List species of 2013.2. Posted by: Maree, S., Faulkes, C. & Griffin, M., 2008, Accessed on 21 December 2013.
  • Rodents
Euarchontoglires Genus
108232
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