Apparently, not only people cultivate food crops, some species of animals also engage in some kind of arable farming. "Southeastern pocket rats are the first non-human mammal farmers," says Francis Putz of the University of Florida in Gainesville, according to a press release. The pocket rats of the species Geomys pinetis, which are widespread in the USA, use underground root farms to obtain sufficient food and thus energy for digging. Together with Veronica Selden from the University of Florida, Putz reported in the journal "Current Biology" that the studied Southeastern Pocket Rat fertilizes the roots and harvests them itself.
The rat species lives in extensive systems underground and feeds mainly on roots that grow into its tunnels. According to the researchers, the rodents not only harvest these, but also cultivate underground root fields with their droppings as fertilizer. In this way, the pocket rat can continue to provide itself with food during tunnel construction and thus cover between 20 and 60 percent of its daily energy needs.
The pocket rats operate field care instead of field construction
The two scientists are aware that the root farms of the pocket rats do not fully correspond to human agriculture. The rodents would not grow plants, but only care for them. According to Putz, it is therefore a question of definition, which should not be too narrowly defined in his opinion. After all, "many cultures in the world also developed agriculture based on perennial plants, many of which were not planted, but were taken care of".
His colleague Veronica Selden hopes that her study will create a larger platform for the still little researched animals. "Pocket rats are much more interesting than they are trusted," said the zoologist. "They are really important ecosystem engineers." As far as Selden and Plaster have discovered for the pocket rats, such behavior has so far been known from insects such as ants, beetles and termites. This is how leaf cutter ants grow mushrooms. To do this, chew leaves on which the mushrooms then thrive.
