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Mating behaviour and female choice: their relation to social structure in wild caught House mice ( Mus musculus ) housed in a semi‐natural environment
Author(s) -
Wolff Robert J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1985.tb04914.x
Subject(s) - biology , house mice , mating , house mouse , zoology , mate choice , social behaviour , ecology , demography , social psychology , psychology , sociology
Mating behaviour and its relation to social structure was studied in two colonies of wild caught House mice ( Mus musculus ) housed in semi‐natural environments. In both colonies, one male was initially dominant to (chased) a number of subordinate males, and mated significantly more often than subordinate males. In time, younger males deposed the dominant male and set up defended areas in the observation room. Under this territorial social structure, only males who possessed defended areas mated. Females moved freely throughout the observation room, and chose high quality territories in which to deliver their litters. Females mated significantly more often with a) males in whose territories they delivered their litters and b) males who defended‘high quality’territories.