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[A1CR]

There appear to be two means by which the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Spiny_Mouse can manage
CR conditions.
They can become active or become inactive and increase
food-seeking behavior
or conserve energy by reduced activity until food becomes
available. This
was reported in this paper...

Gutman R, Yosha D, Choshniak I, Kronfeld-Schor N.
Two strategies for coping with food shortage in desert
golden spiny mice.
Physiol Behav. 2006 Oct 10;
PMID: 17045622

Desert rodents face periods of food shortage and use
different
strategies for coping with it, including changes in activity
level. Golden
spiny mice (Acomys russatus) inhabit rock crevasses and do
not dig burrows
nor store food. When kept under 50% food restriction most,
but not all,
golden spiny mice defend their body mass by physiological
means. We tested
the hypothesis that these rodents use two different
behavioral strategies,
i.e., increasing activity level and searching for food or
decreasing
activity level and conserving energy to cope with food
shortage. Twelve
golden spiny mice were fed ad libitum for 14 days, followed
by 40 days of
50% food restriction, and 14 days of refeeding. Body mass,
food consumption
and general activity were monitored. Seven mice
significantly reduced
activity level, concentrating their activity around feeding
time, lowering
energy expenditure and thus keeping their body mass constant
("resistant"),
while five ("non-resistant") significantly increased
activity level
(possibly searching for food) and thus energy expenditure,
thereby losing
mass rapidly (more than 25% of body mass). The non-resistant
golden spiny
mice were active throughout many hours of the day, with high
variability
both between and among individuals. The use of two
strategies to cope with
food shortage as found in the golden spiny mice may be of
evolutionary
advantage, since it allows a more flexible reaction to food
restriction at
the population level.