Moles A, D'amato FR
Istituto di Psicobiologia e Psicofarmacologia del CNR
Anim Behav. 2000 Nov;60(5):689-694. doi: 10.1006/anbe.2000.1504.
In female mice, Mus domesticus, reunion with a same-sex conspecific is associated with intense ultrasonic vocalization. We examined whether the palatability of a familiar food eaten by a demonstrator mouse and the motivational state of the conspecific observer could modulate the number of ultrasonic calls uttered during female-female interaction in NMRI mice. A pilot study indicated that these calls were uttered almost exclusively by the observer member of the pair. Observers were either food deprived or not deprived and demonstrators were offered either no food, a palatable diet or an unpalatable diet. We monitored both the number of ultrasounds (range 65-75 kHz) uttered and a series of behavioural parameters during the first 3 min of social interaction after 24 h of separation. Observers investigated the nose area of demonstrators fed on the unpalatable diet more than the same area of demonstrators not given food. No differences were found in demonstrators' behaviour. Ultrasonic calls were given immediately after female-female reunion and were affected by both the motivational state of the observer and the salience of the information carried by the conspecific. These results suggest that the motivational state of the observer affects ultrasonic calling towards a demonstrator conspecific. Nondeprived animals produced more calls towards demonstrators fed on palatable food, whereas food-deprived subjects vocalized more to fed conspecifics, independently of the palatability of the food eaten by the demonstrator. We suggest that ultrasonic vocalization in female mice can facilitate proximity with a conspecific and the number of these calls is modulated by the salience of the information carried by the companion. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
在雌性小家鼠中，与同性同种个体重逢时会发出强烈的超声波叫声。我们研究了示范鼠所吃熟悉食物的适口性以及同种观察鼠的动机状态是否会调节NMRI小鼠雌-雌互动期间发出的超声波叫声数量。一项初步研究表明，这些叫声几乎完全由配对中的观察鼠发出。观察鼠要么处于食物剥夺状态，要么未被剥夺食物，示范鼠则要么不提供食物，要么提供适口性饮食或不适口性饮食。在分离24小时后的社交互动的前3分钟内，我们监测了发出的超声波（65 - 75千赫范围）数量以及一系列行为参数。观察鼠对食用不适口性饮食的示范鼠的鼻部区域的探究多于对未给予食物的示范鼠的同一区域的探究。在示范鼠的行为方面未发现差异。雌-雌重逢后立即发出超声波叫声，且其受到观察鼠的动机状态和同种个体所携带信息的显著性的影响。这些结果表明，观察鼠的动机状态会影响对示范同种个体发出的超声波叫声。未被剥夺食物的动物对食用适口性食物的示范鼠发出更多叫声，而食物剥夺的个体对有食物的同种个体叫声更多，这与示范鼠所吃食物的适口性无关。我们认为，雌性小鼠中的超声波发声可以促进与同种个体的接近，且这些叫声的数量受到同伴所携带信息的显著性的调节。版权所有2000动物行为研究协会。
