Abstract The animal-environment interaction is complex, and the ability to temporally organise locomotor activity provides adaptive and survival advantages. The daily and circadian rhythms of locomotor activity in the Desert hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicus, from the central deserts of Saudi Arabia were investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. Twelve individuals were subjected to different light cycles of approximately 3 weeks each: light/dark (12:12LD) cycle; a period of constant darkness (DD); an inverse of the LD (12:12 DL) cycle; a short day cycle (8:16LD); and a long day cycle (16:8LD). All the animals exhibited entrainment of their activity to the LD and DL lighting regimes. Locomotor activity of the Desert hedgehog occurred mostly during the dark phases of the LD, DL, long day and short day cycles. All entraining hedgehogs showed daily rhythmicity, with the periods of the rhythms very close to 24 h. Entrained hedgehogs, additionally, inversed their activity patterns when the light cycle was inversed. The Desert hedgehog, therefore, can be described as genuinely nocturnal with an endogenous rhythm of locomotor activity.

中文翻译：

---

沙特阿拉伯干旱栖息沙漠刺猬 Paraechinus aethiopicus 的运动模式

摘要 动物与环境的相互作用是复杂的，临时组织运动活动的能力提供了适应性和生存优势。在受控实验室条件下研究了来自沙特阿拉伯中部沙漠的沙漠刺猬 Paraechinus aethiopicus 的日常和昼夜节律运动活动。12 个人接受不同的光照周期，每个周期大约为 3 周：明/暗 (12:12LD) 周期；一段持续黑暗的时期（DD）；LD (12:12 DL) 循环的倒数；短日周期（8:16LD）；和漫长的一天循环（16:8LD）。所有动物都表现出对 LD 和 DL 光照制度的活动。沙漠刺猬的运动活动主要发生在 LD、DL、长日和短日周期的黑暗阶段。所有夹带刺猬都表现出每日节律性，节律周期非常接近 24 小时。此外，当光照周期反转时，夹带刺猬也会反转它们的活动模式。因此，沙漠刺猬可以被描述为真正的夜间活动，具有内源性的运动活动节奏。