Methods for the Determination of Food Habits by Plant Microtechniques and Histology and Their Application to Cottontail Rabbit Food Habits

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Abstract
Objectives of this study were to design basic microtechniques for histological food habit studies adaptable to all herbivorous animals whose food is too finely masticated to permit gross analyses. Furthermore, their use in making a study of cotton-tail rabbit food habits by fecal pellet analysis was explored. Procedures for preparing microscope reference slides of strip-ped-off plant epidermis and macerated plant leaves and for preparing analytical slides from fecal pellets are described and pictured. These methods have been used in stomach analyses of the rodents Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis, Microtus p. pennsylvanicus, and Mus musculus, on stomachs and fecal pellets of cottontail rabbits, and on droppings of several lepidopterous larvae.

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