The present thesis essentially applied detailed etho-logical techniques of videotaped records to assessing the impact of non-biological factors on social encounters in laboratory House mice. They generated a much more complete description of the effects of manipulations on behaviour. 'Isolated' male Swiss mice showed increased fighting after even short durations of such housing. Young mice showed more fighting after this procedure than did older animals. The grouped mice exhibited much less aggressive responsing when compared with the isolated counterparts. The age at testing for aggressive behaviour is very important, as is the duration of isolation. One should emphasize that many aspects of behaviour are changed by this housing condition - aggression may not be the most important. Separation of pairs of mice using three different partitions allowing passage of different amounts of sensory input did not significantly influence isolation/pairing comparisons. The neighbouring animals did not show reduced aggression when non-physical contact was possible. Physical contact seems very important in familiarization processes in these animals. Familiar intruders are generally attacked much less vigorously than unfamiliar mice. Animals which had had positive fighting experiences also attack more than individuals lacking such experience. This illustrates the necessity of adequately reporting past history of experimental animals. Levels of aggressive behaviour were relatively high in this strain of mouse when given 24 hours experience of 'prior residence'. Prior residence augments aggression but not dominance potential in these mice. The present studies confirmed that a systematic evaluation of features such as familiarity (of the animals and their situations), and the past history of the animals (such as experience) are necessary to understand social organizations, even in mice. An attempt was made to relate the effects of experience and environmental factors on feral populations of animals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:637750 |
| Date | January 1986 |
| Creators | Kamal, K. B. H. |
| Publisher | Swansea University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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