Rodent Interactions
Rodent Interaction Lab
Introduction In an experiment, adult female hamsters were exposed to both a conspecific male and a heterospecific male through wire-mesh barriers for 8 days, and then paired sequentially with the two males. It was found that female hamsters can learn during adulthood to avoid interspecific mating just by being exposed to stimuli from heterospecific males, (delBarco-Trillo et. al., 2010). This experiment gives a lot of information on the behavior of hamsters in terms of being in an environment with other hamsters. In this experiment, the behavior between related and unrelated hamsters was seen rather than conspecific and heterospecific hamsters. This was done by placing a sibling hamster with its sibling and each sibling with a stranger hamster, and watching the behavior of the hamsters. This work was important because the experiment gives information about certain behaviors that get triggered by certain situations, and in this case, being in an environment with hamsters that are family versus hamsters who are strangers. The behaviors are seen when looking at the interactions, which in this experiment were either passive or aggressive. Passive interactions are behaviors like sniffing or touching in calmly matte, while aggressive behaviors are behaviors like fighting by scratching, pushing, or biting. All the hamsters used were in the species P. campelli. The siblings were around the same age while the stranger was an older hamster. Before the experiment, all three hamsters lived in their own territory apart from any other hamster. They were used to be alone and living independently. The independent variable of this experiment was related or unrelated hamsters, while the dependent variable was the behavior that resulted. The question being answered by this experiment was, how does the relationship, unrelated or related, between hamsters, affect the behavior that results when they are placed in an environment together?
Introduction In an experiment, adult female hamsters were exposed to both a conspecific male and a heterospecific male through wire-mesh barriers for 8 days, and then paired sequentially with the two males. It was found that female hamsters can learn during adulthood to avoid interspecific mating just by being exposed to stimuli from heterospecific males, (delBarco-Trillo et. al., 2010). This experiment gives a lot of information on the behavior of hamsters in terms of being in an environment with other hamsters. In this experiment, the behavior between related and unrelated hamsters was seen rather than conspecific and heterospecific hamsters. This was done by placing a sibling hamster with its sibling and each sibling with a stranger hamster, and watching the behavior of the hamsters. This work was important because the experiment gives information about certain behaviors that get triggered by certain situations, and in this case, being in an environment with hamsters that are family versus hamsters who are strangers. The behaviors are seen when looking at the interactions, which in this experiment were either passive or aggressive. Passive interactions are behaviors like sniffing or touching in calmly matte, while aggressive behaviors are behaviors like fighting by scratching, pushing, or biting. All the hamsters used were in the species P. campelli. The siblings were around the same age while the stranger was an older hamster. Before the experiment, all three hamsters lived in their own territory apart from any other hamster. They were used to be alone and living independently. The independent variable of this experiment was related or unrelated hamsters, while the dependent variable was the behavior that resulted. The question being answered by this experiment was, how does the relationship, unrelated or related, between hamsters, affect the behavior that results when they are placed in an environment together?