Affiliation in the social interactions in captivity of the torch tail rat, Trinomys yonenagae (Rodentia: Echimyidae)

Journal of Ethology - Tập 28 - Trang 105-112 - 2009
Jorge Nei Silva de Freitas1, Luciano Augusto da Silva Carvalho1, Charbel Niño El-Hani1, Pedro Luís Bernardo da Rocha1
1Terrestrial Vertebrates Laboratory, LVT, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

Tóm tắt

In a previous paper, we measured the affiliation between male individuals of Trinomys yonenagae and concluded that the intensity of affiliation was high and did not differ between animals from the same social group and from different social groups. In this paper, we report the results obtained with the same experimental procedure with female individuals. We also discuss sexual differences in the social interaction of this species. The experimental procedure was based on 40-min encounters between residents, which remained alone in an arena for 24 h, and introduced intruders, in a round-robin design. We quantified one variable indicative of activity level (number of squares crossed), one indicative of anxiety (time in marginal squares), three indicative of affiliation (number of physical contacts, mean distance between rodents, and total duration of physical contact), and the number of sound emissions. No aggressive behaviors were exhibited. The results indicate that there is a high level of affiliation mediated by acoustic communication both for males and females and that no anxiety is associated with social context, especially in females. The evolution of sociality in T. yonenagae was probably linked to an increase of tolerance especially among adult females. We also suggest that predation was a stronger selective pressure than resource availability in the evolution of sociality in this species.

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