increased damage to rice crops in Nicaragua during these same years.)
In Colombia, rodent damage in rice was high in 1973 and again in 1978.
The rodent infestation of 1978 was extremely severe in the states of
Tolima and Huila, the major rice producing areas of Colombia. Sample
damage surveys showed that nearly 50 percent of the rice plants were
affected.

In Colombia, the species causing damage to rice is almost exclusively
Sigmodon hispidus. In the area of Acarigua-Calabozo in Venezuela,
rodent damage to rice is caused by Holochilus brasiliensis and
Signomys alstoni. Occasionally, Sigmodon and Zygodontomys are
encountered.

Other crops: In Venezuela, plantations of pineapple are severely
attacked by rodents though the species responsible has not been iden-
tified. In the Cauca Valley of Colombia, relatively heavy damage to
cacao by R. rattus and Sciurus granatensis is not uncommon. And, in
the Bogota sabana, some mushroom plantations have suffered damage by
M. musculus. The damage is mainly physical and results from the
animals' excavations in the planting trays.