ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the various behavioral components that are important in predicting, understanding, preventing, and controlling rodent damage to resources. These include physical capabilities, perception of and response to stimuli, activity and movement, feeding behavior, and social behavior. A rodent's physical capabilities are some of the most basic behavioral traits that need to be understood to effectively solve rodent problems. The rodent's behavior toward various stimuli will often be important in designing appropriate control strategies. Information on their ability to perceive certain signals is used in developing control methods that are either undetectable or highly detectable. Rats exhibit "freezing" behavior when they hear certain sounds, which are thought to be an adaptation for preventing detection by predators who locate prey particularly on the basis of motion. Repellents for rodent control rely on the animal's behavior toward certain tastes and odors. Rodent social behavior ranges from solitary existence to highly organized communal groups.
