The influence of familiarity and temperature on the huddling behavior of two mouse species with contrasting social systems
| Autor: | Zsófia Nagy, Zita Groó, Péter Szenczi, Vilmos Altbäcker, Oxána Bánszegi |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Zoology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences House mouse Behavioral Neuroscience Mice Animals 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Social Behavior Sociality biology Behavior Animal 05 social sciences Temperature Heat losses Recognition Psychology General Medicine biology.organism_classification Geographic distribution Social system Mus spicilegus Animal Science and Zoology Cooperative behavior House mice Territoriality |
| Zdroj: | Behavioural processes. 151 |
| ISSN: | 1872-8308 |
| Popis: | Huddling with other individuals is an effective way to reduce heat loss. This cooperative behavior requires that the individuals tolerate each other's presence at least for a certain time or under certain circumstances. In our study, we investigated the effects of ambient temperature and familiarity on the huddling behavior of two closely related mouse species, the mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus) and the house mouse (Mus musculus musculus). While their geographic distribution overlaps, their social systems differ in many aspects. Whereas house mice are territorial, mound-building mice tolerate each other and live in groups during winter. In laboratory experiments we found that familiarity and ambient temperature influenced the huddling behavior of both species. Familiar individuals were more likely to huddle, but while mound-building mice did so at all temperatures, huddling in house mice increased with lower temperatures. Our results are consistent with the previous knowledge about these species' social systems and might provide us with more details about their sociality. Investigating huddling behavior might be a good way to measure social tolerance between individuals within a species and compare social systems of different species. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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