SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE GIANT MOLE-RAT TACHYORYCTES MACROCEPHALUS (RÜPPELL, 1842) (MAMMALIA RHIZOMYDAE) OF ETHIOPIA

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Abstract
The available material of the giant mole-rat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus (Rüppell, 1842) has been examined and compared with material of T. splendens (Rüppell, 1835) from Ethiopia, leading to a clearer understanding of the differences between them. T. macrocephalus is much larger, reaching a body weight of at least 900 g; most of its skull measurements are also larger, but its incisors are relatively and the interorbital width absolutely narrower than in T. splendens. Additional skull characters which separate the two races of T. macrocephalus confirm their status as subspecies. Observations were also made on the behaviour of a small colony of giant mole-rats, and on other aspects of their biology. Individuals spend up to 47 min gathering food and up to 18 min shovelling earth at the surface in a day; in total, the animals in the colony, probably six adults and one immature, were exposed at the surface for 165 and 178 min on 2 successive days. The food gathered included both grasses and dicotyledonous plants. The simien fox is probably a major predator.