The fauna of small mammals of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is quite rich and diverse and represents a typical taiga complex, including from 52 to 56 species belonging to 16 - 17 families from 6 orders. The uncertainty in the number of species living in the district is determined both by incomplete study of the territory and by the fact that a number of species here have the boundaries of their ranges, which are mobile and can shift in one direction or another. Therefore, some representatives of mammals may appear and disappear.

Small rodents are represented by two species of mice, eight species of jerboas and three species of lemmings. Representatives of the group of small rodents can be found literally everywhere, they are so diverse in their ecological range. Small rodents are the main consumers of plants and serve as the main food source for most predators; many rodents carry pathogens of taiga infectious and parasitic diseases that are dangerous to humans and domestic animals.

The number of small rodents fluctuates from year to year, followed by changes in the rate of forest regeneration, depending on the consumption of seeds by rodents; the number of valuable fur-bearing animals that feed on them increases or decreases; foci of natural infections fade or become more active. Many species of small rodents are sensitive to changes in their habitat caused by anthropogenic impacts, and therefore can serve as subtle indicators of the quality of living conditions. For example, a steady decrease in the number of mass dominant species of rodents, while maintaining the intensity of their reproduction, may serve as evidence of environmental pollution with heavy metals.

Wood mouse - Sicista betulina, Genus Mouse - Sicista, Family Mouse - Zapodidae, Order Rodents - Rodentia, Class Mammals - Mammalia.

Body length up to 62 mm, tail up to 106 mm; weight up to 9g. The color of the top is yellowish-brown, uniform; a black stripe runs down the back. The species' range covers the forest and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia from Central Norway, the Netherlands, Hungary and the Ukrainian Carpathians to Transbaikalia. It rises into the mountains to sub-alpine open forests.

The wood mouse prefers coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests of various types, but chooses cleared areas with undergrowth, berry beds and an abundance of rotten stumps. In forest-steppe landscapes it settles in groves, thickets of bushes, and ravines overgrown with bushes. It is also found in fields near forests and in shelterbelts. It feeds on insects (ants and others), their larvae, berries, green parts of some herbaceous plants and shrubs, and seeds of tree species.

In summer, the wood mouse is active at dusk and at night. It climbs plants well, helping with its tenacious, strong tail. The wood mouse is a burrowing animal. It prefers to build its burrows in rotten stumps, gnawing holes in rotten wood. It is sensitive to low temperatures. It goes into hibernation for the winter.

It makes nests in crevices and under the bark of old stumps, in low-lying hollows, and also digs shallow holes on its own, but mainly uses natural shelters. The nest is made of dry grass and wood dust. Breeding from May to July. Females give birth to cubs once a year, in a brood of three to eight (usually four to five) young. During the winter it hibernates.

When studying the ethology of mammals, the following methods are used: the “Continuous recording” method and the “Time slices” method. The essence of the “Continuous logging” method is to continuously and as completely as possible record all the actions of the animal. The value of the material collected in this way increases significantly if, in addition to recording all the actions of the animal, it is possible to note the actions of all potential external stimuli.

The “Continuous logging” method allows you to identify behavioral sequences at various levels, evaluate the general temporal characteristics of the behavioral flow, and establish functional dependencies between various behavioral manifestations.

The disadvantages of this method are that observations must be carried out around the clock, which is practically impossible in the wild, and it is also impossible to observe several animals at the same time. During the research, a huge amount of redundant information is obtained; data processing is very labor-intensive, but in most cases the researcher is only interested in part of the material obtained, so such expenditures of time and effort are not justified.

The advantages of the “Continuous recording” method are that the value of the research is significantly increased, since the collected material is more accurate, and the material shows in more detail the characteristics of animal behavior.

The “Time Slice” method is used in cases where the researcher is equally interested in all behavioral manifestations (for example, when the task is to determine the dynamics of activity). The essence of this method is “point” or “instant” descriptions of the state of the observed object, produced at regular intervals. At the same time, everything that happens in the intervals is not recorded. Thus, involuntary selectivity in describing the actions of the animal is eliminated, the description becomes objective and suitable for quantitative analysis. The duration of the intervals between fixations is selected depending on the objects and objectives of the study; a mandatory requirement is the constancy of the intervals throughout the entire observation period.

The advantages of the “Time Slices” method are that this method allows you to effectively solve the following problems: determining the animal’s time budget; identification of activity dynamics during the time of day, during the season; determining the degree of synchronization of behavior of 2-7 animals; obtaining quantitative characteristics of space use; study of individual distances between animals. The method is convenient to use in wild conditions.

The disadvantages of the “Time Slices” method are the loss of information about events occurring between registrations. This makes the method unsuitable for studying all rare phenomena in behavior, as well as for all work that requires precise knowledge of the sequence of manifestations of the animal's condition.

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