Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)

I observed the behavior of captive male and female Octodon degus to assess if dustbathing behavior plays a role in social communication among unfamiliar, same-sex conspecifics. Degus of a first group (control responders) were individually exposed during 10-min tests to an arena containing loose, cle...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal:	EBENSPERGER,LUIS A.
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad de Biología de Chile 2000
Materias:	sandbathing scent communication rodents
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2000000200011
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:scielo:S0716-078X2000000200011
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:scielo:S0716-078X20000002000112001-07-24Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)EBENSPERGER,LUIS A. sandbathing scent communication rodents I observed the behavior of captive male and female Octodon degus to assess if dustbathing behavior plays a role in social communication among unfamiliar, same-sex conspecifics. Degus of a first group (control responders) were individually exposed during 10-min tests to an arena containing loose, clean soil. I compared the latency to first dustbathing as well as the overall frequency of dustbathing events recorded to control responders with the corresponding figures recorded to a second group of degus (experimental responders) after they were individually introduced into the same arena but with soil previously used for dustbathing by a same-sex conspecific (depositor). I also compared the location of dustbathing events by experimental responders with that of depositor individuals. Although male degus tended to exhibit shorter latencies to first dustbathing event when in clean soil, this variable was not significantly influenced by sex of responders or the type of soil (clean or used). In contrast, a significant interaction between both factors revealed that males dustbathe at a higher rate than females when on clean soil, but similarly so when in a substratum previously dustbathed by a same-sex conspecific. The place chosen by both male and female responders to conduct their dustbathing behavior was unrelated to the presence of previous marks left by a depositor degu. I conclude that dustbathing is involved in communication during male-male, but not during female-female, interactions in the degu. I suggest that such male-male interactions represent competition for matesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad de Biología de ChileRevista chilena de historia natural v.73 n.2 20002000-06-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2000000200011en10.4067/S0716-078X2000000200011
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	sandbathing scent communication rodents
spellingShingle	sandbathing scent communication rodents EBENSPERGER,LUIS A. Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
description	I observed the behavior of captive male and female Octodon degus to assess if dustbathing behavior plays a role in social communication among unfamiliar, same-sex conspecifics. Degus of a first group (control responders) were individually exposed during 10-min tests to an arena containing loose, clean soil. I compared the latency to first dustbathing as well as the overall frequency of dustbathing events recorded to control responders with the corresponding figures recorded to a second group of degus (experimental responders) after they were individually introduced into the same arena but with soil previously used for dustbathing by a same-sex conspecific (depositor). I also compared the location of dustbathing events by experimental responders with that of depositor individuals. Although male degus tended to exhibit shorter latencies to first dustbathing event when in clean soil, this variable was not significantly influenced by sex of responders or the type of soil (clean or used). In contrast, a significant interaction between both factors revealed that males dustbathe at a higher rate than females when on clean soil, but similarly so when in a substratum previously dustbathed by a same-sex conspecific. The place chosen by both male and female responders to conduct their dustbathing behavior was unrelated to the presence of previous marks left by a depositor degu. I conclude that dustbathing is involved in communication during male-male, but not during female-female, interactions in the degu. I suggest that such male-male interactions represent competition for mates
author	EBENSPERGER,LUIS A.
author_facet	EBENSPERGER,LUIS A.
author_sort	EBENSPERGER,LUIS A.
title	Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
title_short	Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
title_full	Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
title_fullStr	Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
title_full_unstemmed	Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)
title_sort	dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, octodon degus (rodentia:octodontidae)
publisher	Sociedad de Biología de Chile
publishDate	2000
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2000000200011
work_keys_str_mv	AT ebenspergerluisa dustbathingandintrasexualcommunicationofsocialdegusoctodondegusrodentiaoctodontidae
_version_	1718439483719811072

Dustbathing and intra-sexual communication of social degus, Octodon degus (Rodentia:Octodontidae)

Ejemplares similares