Chilean Degus

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The project, titled “Influences of ecological niche on mechanisms of visual pathway maturation”, will be awarded $1 million over 4 years.  Our goals are to determine whether the evolutionary history and ecological niche occupied by a species predicts the extent to which visual experience is required for the development of visual pathways in the brain.  We will examine several rodent species, including the diurnal Chilean degu, that differ with respect to circadian activity pattern and the degree to which vision is important for behavior.