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Infanticide by genetically deaf mice: Possible evidence for an inhibiting function of pups' ultrasonic calls
Author(s) -
D'Amato Francesca R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2337(1987)13:1<25::aid-ab2480130105>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - audiology , ultrasonic sensor , psychology , physiology , developmental psychology , medicine , acoustics , physics
The influence of pup ultrasonic calls on male infanticidal behavior was evaluated by using mice of the GFF strain which includes two different lines: a normally hearing line and a genetically deaf line. Deaf male mice exhibited more infanticidal behavior than mice with normal hearing. In addition, deaf pups, which emitted fewer ultrasonic calls than normal pups, suffered a higher, even though not significant, rate of infanticidal behavior by normally hearing males. On the whole, these results question Labov's hypothesis that pups emit few ultrasounds in the presence of strange males in order to avoid being located and killed by them.