Maternal influence on the development of behavior in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum (Rodentia: Ctenomyidae)

ECHEVERRÍA, ALEJANDRA; VASSALLO, ALDO IVÁN

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Meeting of the International Society for Comparative Psychology; 2008

Society for Comparative Psychology

  We studied the development of ecologically and socially relevant behaviors in Ctenomys talarum, a  subterranean rodent that presents chemical communication. Lactants and dispersing juveniles were observed inside a seminatural PVC burrow. We conducted trials where the same weight of two grasses were offered simultaneously [Bromus unioloides and Panicum racemosum] and each individual in a litter was allocated randomly to one of three conditions, two treatments (presence of maternal odor samples near the two diets) and one control (absence of maternal odors). Exploration, olfaction, digging and reversal locomotion behavior were expressed early during ontogeny. The amount of B. unioloides consumed showed no differences among conditions, but the amount of P. racemosum consumed was lower when the maternal odor was inside the resource cage. The time dedicated inside the resource cages was longer for dispersers, but only in absence of maternal odors. The avoidance of these spaces is in accordance with the increase of mother-pups agonistic interactions close to the dispersing age. However, the presence of maternal odors inside the burrow system reduced the latency to forage P. racemosum in dispersers. We suggest that the presence of maternal odors influences the early development of territorial and foraging behavior, probably affecting dietary preferences.