Coexistence of field hamster and migratory rat 2024 Vienna (1542847-2025)

About the study: Vienna is one of the few cities in Europe where field hamsters are found in inner-city areas such as parks or green areas of residential buildings. However, such inner-city areas are also often populated by migratory rats. On the one hand, field hamsters are one of the strictly protected animal species, but on the other hand, rat deposits have to be combated, which often leads to a conflict. Therefore, this project should investigate the possibility of coexistence of migratory rats and field hamsters and clarify the following questions: (1) do rats settle where field hamsters already exist, (2) do rats displace the field hamsters and/or damage them by physical attacks, injuries, killing, stockpiling or breeding damage due to nest predatory actions, (3) is a peaceful coexistence of both species possible?