Discrimination of midday jird's odour by house mice

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Responses of three groups of house mice, Mus musculus, of different origins (feral mice, commensal mice and third-generation mice of a laboratory colony from feral parents) to the odour of midday jirds, Meriones meridianus, were studied to examine the role of odour in spatial segregation of these species. Mice that co-habited with jirds avoided the jirds' odour, whereas commensal mice and laboratory-bred mice were indifferent to the jirds' odour. Experiments supported the hypotheses that (1) odours mediate inter-species interactions and (2) intraspecific avoidance of rodents based on odour cue is learned rather than innate.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)659-665
Number of pages7
JournalAnimal Behaviour
Volume52
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Animal Science and Zoology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Discrimination of midday jird's odour by house mice'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this