1,721,044 research outputs found
Olfactory Communication in Rats: A Mechanism for Information Centre Functioning
Full text linkThe present research investigates whether information concerning distant foods can be exchanged by domestic rats at a central site. Experiments were designed to model a natural situation in which a successful forager ("demonstrator" rat) returns to the burrow (home cage) and interacts briefly with a fellow colony member ("observer" rat).Information transfer was demonstrated, as observers exhibited a marked preference for the food that their demonstrators had eaten. A series of experiments designed to analyze the means of information exchange demonstrated that communication was mediated by olfactory cues. Active communication regarding the demonstrator's feeding success proved unnecessary for effective information transfer between demonstrators and observers. Finally, observers exposed to poisoned demonstrators during the interaction period, nevertheless exhibited a preference for the food that their demonstrators had eaten. This result suggested that observers had failed to associate olfactory cues regarding the food with their demonstrators' illness.Master of Arts (MA
The role of residual olfactory cues in the determination of the feeding site selection and exploration patterns of domestic rats
No full textThe results of the present series of experiments indicate that weanling domestic rat pups feed and explore in areas containing residual olfactory cues deposited by conspecific adults in preference to clean areas. Both nulliparous and lactating Long-Evans female rats can mark an area so as to induce pups to explore and feed in it. Residual cues continue to affect the feeding and exploratory behavior of pups to maturity. Discrepancies between the results obtained in the olfactory discrimination apparatus (Leon &Moltz, 1971) and the present experiments are resolved and evidence presented for the existence of residual cues attractive to pups not contained in anal excreta. It is. suggested that residual cues deposited by adult rats can playa role in directing weanlings to their first meals of solid food in the natural environment.Master of Arts (MA
Social influences on the mate choices of male and female Japanese quail
No full textFor the last decade, Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) have served as subjects in an extended series of studies of social influences on reproductive behavior. The results of those studies are summarized here. Females prefer to affiliate with males that they have seen courting and mating, whereas males avoid females that they have seen courting and mating, and both males and females prefer to copulate with the same individuals with whom they prefer to affiliate. Further, females lay more fertilized eggs after mating with a male they have seen mate with another female than after mating with a male they did not watch while he mated. Female quail’s preferences among males are also affected by observation of males ’ aggressive interactions, with virgin females preferring dominant males and sexually experienced females preferring subordinates. Evidence is provided suggesting that: (1) responses of quail to observation of a member of the opposite sex mating is an adaptive specialization of information processing systems involved in quail social learning and (2) mate-choice copying in quail can influence the evolution of male secondary sexual characteristics
Development of Flavor Preference in Man and Animals: The Role of Social and Nonsocial Factors
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