My Year of Darwin 3/24/2014: Cheeky Chinchilla

"The bizcacha has one very singular habit; namely, dragging every hard object to the mouth of its burrow: around each group of holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard lumps of earth, dry dung etc., are collected into an irregular heap, which frequently amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow would contain" -Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle  

Darwin is most likely referring to the plains viscacha, a type of chinchilla. If this behavior were done by a bird, I would think it was done by males to attract a female. The amount of stuff at the burrow an indicator of his status. But, these burrows are used by a number of individuals for years. Why then, this behavior? It still could be done by an alpha male as an indicator of his quality or by the entire group to mark their territory. If I had the time, this would be interesting to check. 

www.planet-mammiferes.org

____________________________________________________________

Might have the flu. Feeling like crap. Finished being an editor on two papers and three to go. One isn't in yet and I have lab at 2 tomorrow. This editing gig is going to kill me.. and I mean that in a very real sense.