We got up early this morning (got to the site at 7:30, which is dawn right now!?) to try and catch some wild rodents. We are interested in how different rodent and insectivore species process sound location information. We were hoping to catch some beasties to measure vocalizations, their auditory brainstem responses, and look at some anatomical markers in the brainstem. The auditory brainstem response is a neurophysiological output of the key areas of the brain responsible for understanding where a sound is coming from. We can use this response to understand variability in hearing range (frequency), binaural (both ear) hearing, sex differences in hearing, and any hearing loss animals might have. Different species that we find can provide us more information about the diversity of factors that influence the ability to process where sounds originate.

Today we weren’t able to catch anything, but we are hoping, now that we have the tools to try, we can get this data very soon!!

Exciting things coming soon from Team Wild Rodent! Big props to undergrad and Freshman Research Scholar Margaret New for driving up from Edmond bright and early to set some traps with me and Dr. Scott McMurry for providing us the traps and the know-how.