A test for studying sociability of the common shrew, Sorex araneus

A test for studying sociability of the common shrew, Sorex araneus

Shchipanov N.A., Demidova T.B.

P. 105-111

The common shrew Sorex araneus is one of the least social mammals with chiefly aggressive interactions. Although this species is usually considered territorial, the behavioral mechanisms of the social system are not entirely clear. Sociability is the motivation to engage in social contact, the conflict in the case of the common shrew, in the presence of both situational and individual differences, can be an important factor in the use of space in this species. This aspect of behavior of shrews was not studied. We propose a simplified preference test which could be used in field studies. In contrast to the classic Crawley three chamber test we performed trials in one-chamber arena. The test implies assay of preference of an area adjoined to wire-net container with a stimulus animal versus an area-adjoined empty container. The distance, the velocity, and the duration were considered the principal variables. Indexes permitting assay the mobility in a zone and preference of an area is suggested. This publication is devoted to the description of the test and discussing of the preliminary results.DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.19.2.01

Литература
  • Buchanan K., Burt de Perera T., Carere C., Carter T., Hailey A., Hubrecht R., Jennings D., Metcalfe N., Pitcher T., Peron F., Sneddon L., Sherwin C., Talling J., Thomas R. & Thompson M. 2012. Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching // Animal Behaviour. Vol.83. P.301–309.
  • Churchfield S. 1990. The Natural History of Shrews. London: Christopher Helm. 178 p.
  • Churchfield S. & Searle J.B. 2008. Common shrew // Harris S. & Yalden D.W. (eds.) Mammals of the British Isles, Handbook. 4th edn. London: The Mammal Society. P.257–265.
  • Crawley J. 2000. What’s Wrong with My Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 544 p.
  • Crawley J.N. 2004. Designing mouse behavioral tasks relevant to autistic-like behaviors // Mental retardation and developmental disabilities research reviews. Vol.10. P.248–258.
  • Croin Michielsen N. 1966. Intraspecific and interspecific competition in the shrews Sorex araneus L. and S. minutus L. // Archives Néerlandaises de Zoologie. Vol.17. P.73–74.
  • Crowcroft P. 1957. The Life of the Shrew. London: Max Reinhardt. 166 p.
  • Crowcroft W.P. 1955. Notes on the behaviour of shrews // Behaviour. Vol.8. P.63–80.
  • File S.E. & Hyde J.R.G. 1978. Can social interaction be used to measure anxiety? // British Journal of Pharmacology. Vol.62. P.19–24.
  • File S.E. & Seth P. 2003. A review of 25 years of the social interaction test // European Journal of Pharmacology. Vol.463. P.35–53.
  • Kalinin A.A. & Shchipanov N.A. 2003. [Density dependent behaviour in red-toothed shrews (Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, and S. minutus) in wild and in experiment] // Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seria Biologicheskaia. Vol.6. P. 689–697 [in Russian, with English summary].
  • Kalinin A.A., Shchipanov N.A. & Demidova T.B. 1998. [Behavior of four species of shrews Sorex isodon, S. araneus, S. caecutiens, and S. minutus (Insectivora, Soricidae) in interspecific contacts] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.77. P.838–849 [in Russian, with English summary].
  • Kalueff A.V., Keisala T., Minasyan A., Kuuslahti M. & Tuohimaa P. 2006. Temporal stability of novelty exploration in mice exposed to different open field tests // Behavioural Processes. Vol.72. P.104–112.
  • Kouptsov A.V 2013. [Homing of yearlings of shrews (Sorex araneus and Sorex caecutiens, Insectivora, Soricidae)] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.92. P.941–954 [in Russian, with English summary].
  • Lezak K.R., Missig G. & Carlezon W.A., Jr. 2017. Behavioral methods to study anxiety in rodents // Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. Vol.19. P.181–191.
  • von Merten S. & Siemers B.M. 2012. Exploratory behaviour in shrews: fast-lived Sorex versus slow-lived Crocidura // Animal Behaviour. Vol.84. P.29–38.
  • von Merten S., Zwolak R. & Rychlik L. 2017. Social personality: a more social shrew species exhibits stronger differences in personality types // Animal Behaviour. Vol.127. P.125–134.
  • Millan M.J. & Bales K.L. 2013. Towards improved animal models for evaluating social cognition and its disruption in schizophrenia: The CNTRICS initiative // Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. Vol.37. P.2166–2180.
  • Moraleva N.V. 1989. Intraspecific interactions in the common shrew Sorex araneus in Central Siberia // Annales Zoologici Fennici. Vol.26. P.423–432.
  • Moy S.S., Nadler J.J., Perez A., Barbaro R.P., Johns J.M., Magnuson T.R., Piven J. & Crawley J.N. 2004. Sociability and preference for social novelty in five inbred strains: an approach to assess autistic-like behavior in mice // Genes, Brain, and Behavior. Vol.3. P.287–302.
  • Nakagawa S. & Schielzeth H. 2010. Repeatability for Gaussian and non-Gaussian data: A practical guide for biologists // Biological Reviews. Vol.85. P.935–956.
  • Nagaraju K., Carlson G. & De Luca A. 2010. Behavioral and locomotor measurements using open field animal activity monitoring system // TREAT-NMD. DMD_M.2.1.002. P.1–9.
  • Oleinichenko V.Y. 2007. [Behavior of the common (Sorex araneus), musked (Sorex caecutiens) and pygmy (Sorex minutes) shrews at developed and alien territory] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.86. P.1259–1271 [in Russian, with English summary].
  • Oleinichenko V.Y. 2012. Behavioral interactions of adult females of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) with conspecifics on familiar territory // Biology Bulletin. Vol.39. P.351–359.
  • Rychlik L. 1998. Evolution of social systems in shrews // Wójcik J.M. & Wolsan M. (eds.). Evolution of Shrews. Białowieża: Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences. P.347–406.
  • Rychlik L. & Zwolak R. 2005. Behavioural mechanisms of conflict avoidance among shrews // Acta Theriologica. Vol.50. P.289–308.
  • Rychlik L. & Zwolak R. 2006. Interspecific aggression and behavioural dominance among four sympatric species of shrews // Canadian Journal of Zoology. Vol.84. P.434–448. Searle J.B. 1985. Methods for determining the sex of common shrews (Sorex araneus) // Journal of Zoology. Vol.206. P.279–282.
  • Shchipanov N.A., Kalinin A.A., Demidova T.B., Oleinichenko V.Yu., Aleksandrov D.Yu. & Kouptzov A.V. 2005. Population ecology of red-toothed shrews, Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, S. minutus, and S. isodon, in Central Russia // Merritt J.F., Churchfield S., Hutterer R. & Sheftel B.I. (eds.). Advances in the Biology of Shrews II. Special Publication of the International Society of Shrew Biologists, New York. P.201–216.
  • Shchipanov N.A., Kalinin A.A., Oleinichenko V.Yu. & Demidova T.B. 1998. [General behavioural characteristics of shrews Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, S. minutus, and S. isodon (Insectivora, Soricidae)] // Zoologicheskii Zhurnal. Vol.2. P.300–312 [in Russian, with English summary].
  • Shchipanov N.A., Zima J. & Churchfield S. 2019. Introducing the common shrew // Searle J., Polly P. & Zima J. (eds.). Shrews, Chromosomes and Speciation (Cambridge Studies in Morphology and Molecules: New Paradigms in Evolutionary Bio). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P.19–67.
  • Shillito J.F. 1963a. Field observation on the growth, reproduction and activity of a woodland population of the common shrew Sorex araneus L. // Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Vol.140. P.99–113.
  • Shillito J.F. 1963b. Observations on the range and movements of a woodland population of the common shrew Sorex araneus L. // Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Vol.140. P.533–46.
  • Stoffel M.A., Nakagawa S. & Schielzeth H. 2017. rptR: repeatability estimation and variance decomposition by generalized linear mixed-effects models // Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Vol.8. P.1639–1644.
  • Tatem K.S., Quinn J.L., Phadke A., Yu Q, Gordish-Dressman H. & Nagaraju K. 2014. Behavioral and locomotor measurements using an open field activity monitoring system for skeletal muscle diseases // Journal of Visualized Experiments. Vol.91. P.1–7.