Female mice exhibit both sexual and social partner preferences for vocalizing males

Integrative Zoology
Kensaku NomotoTakefumi Kikusui

Abstract

Acoustic signals are widely used as courtship signals in the animal kingdom. It has long been known that male mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in the presence of female mice or in response to female secretions. This observation led to the hypothesis that male USVs play a role in courtship behavior. Although previous studies showed that female mice have a social partner preference for vocalizing males, it is not known if they exhibit a sexual partner preference when given a choice. To address this issue, we examined the copulatory behaviors of female mice with either devocalized males (with or without the playback of the USVs) or sham-operated males in 2 different behavioral paradigms: the no-choice paradigm in the home cage of a male mouse (without choice of mating partners) or the mate-choice paradigm in a 3-chambered apparatus (with choice of mating partners). In the no-choice paradigm, female mice exhibited comparable sexual receptivity with sham-operated and devocalized males. In addition, we found that female mice showed more approach behavior towards devocalized males when male USVs were played back. In the mate-choice paradigm, female mice visited more frequently and stayed longer with sham-operated than devocal...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 27, 2018·Integrative Zoology·Mohamed Kabbaj, Zuoxin Wang
Aug 23, 2019·Scientific Reports·Kerstin E ThonhauserDustin J Penn
Nov 6, 2018·Neuroscience Research·Kentaro K Ishii, Kazushige Touhara
Mar 6, 2019·Journal of Neuroscience Methods·Mario Buenrostro-JáureguiLuis Miguel Rodríguez-Serrano

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