Forestier Tatiana, Féron Christophe, Raveleau Thomas, Sabatier Roxanne, Gouat Patrick
Laboratoire d'Éthologie Expérimentale et Comparée E.A. 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France.
Laboratoire d'Éthologie Expérimentale et Comparée E.A. 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France.
Behav Processes. 2020 Oct;179:104199. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104199. Epub 2020 Jul 22.
The social transmission of food preference (STFP) is a phenomenon that allows rodents to use food information perceived from their conspecifics to guide their own food choices. This social information can be collected via olfactory cues, during direct social interactions, or indirectly, via faeces left in the environment by individuals. Although reducing the risks associated with a social confrontation, faeces also convey different types of information about traits and states of individuals which could affect the indirect STFP. Here, we evaluated in the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, which conspecifics could be good providers of food cues for indirect STFP. Our results indicated that female mice acquire an indirect STFP from faeces of adult females, familiar or not and from faeces of adult unfamiliar males. On the contrary, males do not establish an indirect STFP from faeces of males, whether they are familiar or not, nor from those of unfamiliar females. Indirect STFP was however effective in males when the faeces were those of an unfamiliar juvenile male. A prior habituation to the odour of an unfamiliar female allowed the establishment of indirect STFP in males. Conversely, the presence of faeces of another adult male during the presentation of faeces of an accustomed female precluded the acquisition of indirect STFP in males. This study suggested that in the context of the indirect STFP, females prioritize socio-olfactory information relative to food, whereas food cues were not priority information for males. Under these conditions, females appear to be the best vectors for disseminating food information within the population. These results are discussed according to the socio-spatial organization of the species.
食物偏好的社会传递（STFP）是一种现象，它使啮齿动物能够利用从同种个体那里感知到的食物信息来指导自己的食物选择。这种社会信息可以通过嗅觉线索、在直接的社会互动过程中或间接通过个体留在环境中的粪便来收集。虽然粪便降低了与社会对抗相关的风险，但它也传达了关于个体特征和状态的不同类型信息，这可能会影响间接STFP。在这里，我们在小家鼠（Mus musculus domesticus）中评估了哪些同种个体可能是间接STFP食物线索的良好提供者。我们的结果表明，雌性小鼠从成年雌性的粪便（无论是否熟悉）以及成年陌生雄性的粪便中获得间接STFP。相反，雄性小鼠不会从雄性的粪便（无论是否熟悉）中建立间接STFP，也不会从不熟悉的雌性的粪便中建立间接STFP。然而，当粪便来自陌生的幼年雄性时，间接STFP在雄性中是有效的。事先对陌生雌性的气味产生习惯化，使得雄性能够建立间接STFP。相反，在呈现习惯化雌性的粪便时，另一只成年雄性的粪便的存在会阻止雄性获得间接STFP。这项研究表明，在间接STFP的背景下，雌性相对于食物更优先考虑社会嗅觉信息，而食物线索对雄性来说不是优先信息。在这些条件下，雌性似乎是在种群中传播食物信息的最佳载体。根据该物种的社会空间组织对这些结果进行了讨论。
