Unikátní hlodavec hlodoun velký (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) s podzemní (fosoriální) aktivitou je znám především díky vlčku etiopskému (Canis simensis), který je jeho hlavním predátorem. Hlodoun jako takový ale zatím nebyl předmětem velkého vědeckého bádání, a to i přesto, že jde o ekologicky významný druh etiopského afro-alpínského ekosystému. Cílem našeho terénního výzkumu bylo rozšířit znalosti o aktivitě tohoto hlodavce z hlediska jejího množství, sezonní změny a vzorce.

Použitá a doporučená literatura:
BACIGALUPE, Leonardo D., et al. Activity and space use by degus: a trade-off between thermal conditions and food availability?. Journal of Mammalogy, 2003, 84.1: 311-318.
BEOLCHINI, Francesca; CORTI, Marco. The taxonomy of the genus Tachyoryctes: a geometric morphometric approach. Italian Journal of Zoology, 2004, 71.1: 35-43.
BUSCH, Cristina, et al. Population ecology of subterranean rodents. Life underground: the biology of subterranean rodents (EA Lacey, G. Cameron, and JL Patton, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2000, 183-226.
HALLE, Stefan. Ecological relevance of daily activity patterns. Activity patterns in small mammals, 2000, 67-90.
HINZE, Andrea; PILLAY, Neville. Life in an African alpine habitat: diurnal activity patterns of the ice rat Otomys sloggetti robertsi. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 2006, 38.4: 540-546.
MELCHER, Jaye C.; ARMITAGE, Kenneth B.; PORTER, Warren P. Thermal influences on the activity and energetics of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris). Physiological Zoology, 1990, 63.4: 803-820.
NEVO, Eviatar. Mosaic evolution of subterranean mammals: regression, progression, and global convergence. Oxford University Press, 1999.
SILLERO-ZUBIRI, C.; TATTERSALL, F. H.; MACDONALD, D. W. Habitat selection and daily activity of giant molerats Tachyoryctes macrocephalus: significance to the Ethiopian wolf Canis simensis in the Afroalpine ecosystem. Biological Conservation, 1995, 72.1: 77-84.
ŠKLÍBA, Jan, et al. Activity of free-living subterranean blind mole rats Spalax galili (Rodentia: Spalacidae) in an area of supposed sympatric speciation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 118.2: 280-291.
YALDEN, D. W. Tachyoryctes macrocephalus. Mammalian Species, 1985, 237: 1-3.
ZHANG, Y. The Biology and Ecology of Plateau Zokors (Eospalax fontanierii). Subterranean Rodents: News from Underground. S. Begall, H. Burda, C.E. Schleich (Eds.), 2007

The Giant Root Rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), a fossorial rodent species, is known mainly thanks to its dominant predator, the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis). Even though it is an ecologically important species of Afro-alpine ecosystem in Ethiopia, this root rat has not been studied in detail yet. The aim of our field research was to increase knowledge of the extent of root-rat activity, its seasonal change and pattern.