Multi-choice food preference behaviour of the Indian mole rat Bandicota bengalensis

Multi-choice food preference behaviour of the Indian mole rat Bandicota bengalensis has been studied with 4 and 8 foods consisting of cereals and a pulse in rat pens which had floor area of 143 x 94 cm and 143 x 94 plus 220 x 82 cm, respectively, and separate food and nest boxes. Nine combinations of three texture forms of 4 foods and one combination of 8 foods were tested. Significant differences were observed in the daily consumption of different foods irrespective of the daily clock-wise rotation in the location of the foods. The number of available foods, their taste and textural qualities were found to influence the feeding responses of B. bengalensis. In multi-choice feeding tests with 4 foods, small sized and less harder grains as of rice and millet were eaten more than those of maize and gram, while the maize flour was more preferred than the flour forms of other grains. Compared to other foods in any combination, rice in its whole (W), cracked (C) and flour (F) forms was generally eaten more than the W and C forms of maize and gram and F form of gram and millet. However, the 8 foods were eaten in the following order of preference: millet (W) > millet (C) > jowar (C) > wheat (C) > rice parmal (C) > rice basmati (C) > gram (C) > maize (C). The mole rat appeared to establish a particular order of preference of foods on the first day of feeding, and that was maintained on subsequent days by daily exploration and sampling of all foods. The particular patterns of food preference, as established in combinations of 4 foods and 8 foods, were not influenced significantly by the changes in location of foods among similar and familiar feeding sites of the rats.