Hemispheric specialization in wild guinea pig (Cavia aperea) as revealed from head orientation in a context of social integration

SHEILA ORONA; ANA CORREA; JORGE MPODOZIS; RAUL SOBRERO; AYELEN EBERHARDT; LUIS EBENSPERGER; JIMENA GOGGI; PABLO BELDOMENICO

Estoril

Congreso; Behaviour 2017. 35th International Ethological Conference and the 2017 Summer Meeting of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour; 2017

Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida

Brain lateralization is expressed to as a preference to attend stimuli with one eye using the lateral monocular field of view. We scored head orientation preferences by wild caught guinea pigs (Cavia aperea) while performing vigilance and foraging after varying times of being introduced into outdoor enclosures. Thus, these enclosures were variable in terms of adult composition and time since individuals have been introduced, implying individual cavies differed in the extent to which they experienced social integration. We recorded vigilance, without synchrony, when the animal remained motionless with its head raised upward and supported either by its four legs, and foraging when the animal assumed a browse posture without mobility. Both behaviors involved the head directed toward the horizon. We recorded body mass and reproductive status of each animal. Identification of each animal was aided with the use of binoculars and video recordings. The length of focal observations averaged 12.3 ± 4.2 min. A total of 122 focal observations, representing 21 (11 males) different sexually mature animals, were recorded. Individuals allocated 4.5 ± 1.8% of their total diurnal activity to vigilance and 5.9 ± 2.8% to foraging. Of this, 62.4 ± 2.9% corresponded to binocular (B), 21.4 ± 6.8% to right (R), and 16.3 ± 12.1% to left (L) head orientation during vigilance. Regarding foraging, 60.3 ± 6.1% corresponded to B, 24.4 ± 6.2% R, and 15.3 ± 13.6% L orientation. Hemispheric specialization in terms of head orientation during vigilance and foraging behaviour of wild cavies did not vary with sex. Our examination of social integration, revealed differences across head orientation during vigilance (B: χ2=28.51, d.f.=12; p=0.005; R: χ2=6.58, d.f.=6; p=0.361; L: χ2=12.49, d.f.=6; p=0.052) and foraging behaviour (B: χ2=9.97, d.f.=6; p=0.126; R: χ2=11.90, d.f.=8; p=0.156; L: χ2=6.04, d.f.=6; p=0.419). Thus, a decreasing gradient of head orientation to nearest nest during vigilance behaviour in terms of social integration observed was B>R>L. In particular, socially more integrated cavies exhibited more binocular view compared with less socially integrated subjects