Rissman E F, Taymans S E, Wayne N L
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22901.
J Reprod Fertil. 1990 Jul;89(2):697-706. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.0890697.
Musk shrews were maintained from weaning (20 days of age) for 20 or 40 days in one of several social conditions. In Exp. 1, young males housed with adult females gained more weight and had heavier sex accessory organs than did young males housed with an adult male or reared alone. In Exp. 2 this same pattern of accelerated growth and sexual maturation was found when males were reared directly with an adult female or in a split cage where a wire barrier served to separate the male and his adult female cagemate. In Exp. 3, males were reared in cages containing clean or soiled bedding: soiled bedding was taken once every 5 days from the cage of an adult male, or a female. Under these conditions differences in the weights of reproductive tissues showed minimal variation with housing condition after 20 days of treatment. At that time males reared in soiled bedding taken from the cage of an adult female had accelerated development compared with control males. In Exp. 4, males were housed alone or in a split cage with an adult female which was separated by a wire mesh or a solid, opaque barrier. Males separated by a solid barrier from their female cagemates for 40 days had reproductive tissue weights equivalent to those measured in males reared alone. Taken together these results suggest that the presence of an adult female has dramatic effects on body growth and development of reproductive target tissues in young male musk shrews. Male-female social interactions could play an important role in the timing of puberty in this opportunistically breeding tropical mammal.
将麝鼩从断奶期（20日龄）开始，在几种不同的社会环境中饲养20天或40天。在实验1中，与成年雌性一起饲养的年轻雄性比与成年雄性一起饲养或单独饲养的年轻雄性体重增加更多，性附属器官也更重。在实验2中，当雄性直接与成年雌性一起饲养，或饲养在一个用金属丝网隔开的分隔笼中，与成年雌性同笼时，发现了相同的加速生长和性成熟模式。在实验3中，雄性饲养在装有干净或脏污垫料的笼子里：脏污垫料每5天从成年雄性或雌性的笼子中取一次。在这些条件下，处理20天后，生殖组织重量的差异随饲养条件的变化极小。那时，与对照雄性相比，饲养在取自成年雌性笼子的脏污垫料中的雄性发育加速。在实验4中，雄性单独饲养，或与成年雌性饲养在一个用金属丝网或不透明固体屏障隔开的分隔笼中。与雌性同笼但被固体屏障隔开40天的雄性，其生殖组织重量与单独饲养的雄性相当。综合这些结果表明，成年雌性的存在对年轻雄性麝鼩的身体生长和生殖靶组织的发育有显著影响。在这种机会性繁殖的热带哺乳动物中，雌雄之间的社会互动可能在青春期的时间安排中起重要作用。
