Effects of exposures to siblings or sibling odors on sibling recognition in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Paz y Miño C. ◽  
Zuleyma Tang-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Microtine Rodents ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
Sibling Recognition ◽  
Isolation Period

Determining the mechanisms of sibling recognition is important for understanding social behavior and the basic parameters of population dynamics (cycles) in microtine rodents. Previous studies have shown that, after relatively short periods of isolation, prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) no longer recognize their siblings. In this study we tested the hypothesis that brief encounters of prairie voles with siblings or sibling odors during a period of isolation can maintain social memory and the ability of animals to recognize their siblings over time. Six-week-old voles of both sexes that were isolated for 21 days and exposed (on days 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 of this 21-day isolation period) to brief encounters (30 min for each encounter) with their siblings continued to recognize their siblings when tested for social interactions at 42 days of age. Only females exposed to odors of same-sex siblings during the period of isolation continued to recognize their sisters. Males exposed to odors of same-sex siblings did not recognize their brothers when tested for social interactions at 42 days of age. These results demonstrate that after dispersal prairie voles need occasional encounters with their siblings, or their siblings' odors (at least in females), to reinforce social memory and the ability to recognize kin over prolonged periods of time. This study is the first to provide empirical evidence that helps us understand the mechanism by which sibling prairie voles, which are philopatric or often settle in home ranges close to one another, almost never form breeding pairs.

Social interactions, cross-fostering, and sibling recognition in prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 1631-1636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Paz y Miño C. ◽  
Zuleyma Tang-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Incest Avoidance ◽  
Sibling Recognition ◽  
Cross Fostering ◽  
As If

Sibling recognition in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) has been traditionally inferred from incest avoidance or lack of reproduction among littermates. Researchers have concluded that when sibling prairie voles are isolated from one another there is a breakdown of incest avoidance (and therefore of sibling recognition). In a reevaluation of these studies, using social interactions rather than incest avoidance, we found that the breakdown of incest avoidance was not equivalent to a breakdown of sibling recognition. We explored the effects of cross-fostering on sibling recognition by looking at changes in amicable or agonistic behaviors that were then used to infer sibling recognition. Prairie voles that were cross-fostered with nonsiblings were not able to recognize their own siblings when reunited and tested for social interactions in adulthood. Siblings reared apart treated their own siblings as if they were not closely related and nonsiblings reared together treated nonsiblings as if they were their own siblings. The mechanism of sibling recognition in prairie voles is association or familiarity. The ability to recognize siblings may be limited to individuals that are raised together. Sibling recognition in prairie voles may be a by-product of familiarity in early life and not a mechanism restricted to genetic relatedness as predicted by kin-selection theory.

Familiarity and gender influence social preferences in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster)

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Courtney DeVries ◽  
Camron L. Johnson ◽  
C. Sue Carter
Keyword(s):  
Social Preference ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Group Cohesion ◽  
Gonadal Hormones ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Sex Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex

The physiological mechanisms influencing group cohesion and social preferences are largely unstudied in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). In nature, prairie vole family groups usually consist of an adult male and female breeding pair, one or more litters of their offspring, and occasionally unrelated adults. Pair bonds, defined by heterosexual preferences, develop in male and female prairie voles following cohabitation or mating. However, social preferences between members of the same sex also may be important to the maintenance of communal groups. In the present study we compared the development of social preferences for conspecific strangers of the same sex versus preferences for the opposite sex, and examined the effect of the gonadal status of the stimulus animal on initial social preference. The present study revealed that reproductively naive males, but not females, showed initial preferences for partners of the opposite sex. In both sexes preferences for the opposite sex were not influenced by the presence or absence of gonadal hormones. Heterosexual and same-sex preferences for a familiar individual formed following 24 h of nonsexual cohabitation in both males and females. Male and female same-sex preferences, however, were no longer stable when the stranger in the preference test was of the opposite sex to the experimental animal. The development of same-sex preferences may help to maintain group cohesion, but same-sex preferences formed by cohabitation do not withstand the challenge of an opposite-sex stranger.

Effects of isolation on sibling recognition in prairie voles,Microtus ochrogaster

1999 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1091-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
GUILLERMO PAZ Y MIÑATNO ◽  
ZULEYMA TANG-MARTÍNEZ
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Sibling Recognition

scholarly journals Do females influence paternal responsiveness in male prairie voles Microtus ochrogaster by increasing the salience of infant odors?

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damaris-Lois Lang YAMOAH ◽  
Wilhemina Laryea ◽  
Fiker Fassil ◽  
Maryam Bamshad
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Number Of Males ◽  
Social Odors

Abstract Male prairie voles become more responsive to infants following cohabitation with a female. Exposure to female sensory cues prior to offspring birth may influence male paternal tendencies by modifying his response to infant odors in particular or to odors in general. To test these hypotheses, males were housed with an unfamiliar female or a same-sex sibling for 13 days then examined for their response towards either live infants or infant-like inanimate objects covered with one of three odors: water, infant, sub-adult. We recorded the number of males that retrieved and manipulated the infants or odor-covered objects and measured the frequency and duration of time males spent attending to them or engaged in other non-social activities. Female-Cohabited males approached the container holding infant-odor covered objects faster than Male-Cohabited males, but showed no differences in time spent manipulating those objects. Males in both groups spent more time manipulating live infants than odor-covered objects. However, Female-Cohabited subjects were more likely to manipulate odor-covered objects as well as live infants than Male-Cohabited subjects. Additionally, the frequency of self-grooming in Female-Cohabited males was higher for water-covered objects compared to Male-Cohabited males. In presence of water and live infants, Female-Cohabited males groomed themselves with greater frequency than in presence of infant odor or sub-adult odor. The data suggest that female cues increase the male’s sensitivity to infant odors and enhance the salience of non-social odors.

Sexual and social interactions preceding and during male-induced oestrus in prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1465-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane M. Witt ◽  
C. Sue Carter ◽  
Kathy Carlstead ◽  
Linnea D. Read
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Prairie Voles
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document