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The Social Behaviour of Wild and Domestic Rattus norvegicus in Dyadic Encounters
Author(s) -
ALLEN HJU M.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
zoologica scripta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1463-6409
pISSN - 0300-3256
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-6409.1977.tb00762.x
Subject(s) - biology , cage , threatened species , zoology , genotype , period (music) , demography , ecology , genetics , gene , physics , mathematics , combinatorics , sociology , habitat , acoustics
The social behavour of trapped wild rats, laboratory‐bred descendants of wild rats, and agouti laboratory rats, all Rattus norvegicus , was compared in encounters between pairs of adult males. Pairs of rats of the same type shared a large cage divided by a partition, which was removed at the beginning of each 20 minute observation period. Ten defined categories of behaviour were recorded. The Wild rats Attacked and Threatened and Ran Away more often than the other groups, while the Agoutis were generally more active, especially in investigatory behaviour, and maintained their initial levels of activity in the second encounter. The third group was intermediate in most respects. These findings are related to differences in genotype and environment.