Ear Tags Versus Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Tags for Effectively Marking Deer Mice

Abstract

We examined whether passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags were a more effective marking technique for a long-term population study of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) than ear tags. We compared the number of PIT tags lost to ear tags lost in a population of ind1v1duals that received both types of markers. A total of 194 deer mice received both PIT and ear tags and 56.7 percent of these animals were recaptured at least once during the study. We found that PIT tags performed poorly as a marking technique for a mark-recapture study of deer mice using our methods of implantation. The percentage of recaptured individuals that lost PIT tags (31.8%) was significantly higher than the percentage that lost ear tags (8.2%). We recomm~nd further study to determine if alternative tag placement techniques may increase PIT tag retention in this species.