Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings collection
Date of this Version
March 1972
Abstract
It seems explicitly evident that animal control practices must now, and especially in the future, emphasize fuller appreciation of the habits of each kind of animal. Further, this will require consideration be given to behavioral aspects as expressed by a population as a whole of a given species, as well as each individual animal within that population. Animals react with one another and with all characteristics of their environment; and, this in turn results in an identifiable reaction or behavior of each population as a unit of social organization. Although within broad limits some aspects of these responses, whether individual or group, are reasonably predictable, many are not. But, in this day of stringent regulations on food contamination and methods of controlling pests, "reasonably predictable" is no longer acceptable. The near-perfect, if actually not the perfect, technique is becoming a requirement. Therefore, to approach this level of success, one must attempt to interpret the behavior of each mouse and/or population in every infestation.