Antipredator defensive behaviors in a visible burrow system.
Analyzed defensive behaviors in a seminatural setting through videorecordings of groups of 4 male and 4 female rats. Before cat exposure dominant males showed more offensive behavior, eating, drinking, and use of the open area than subordinates. Presentation of a cat in the open area produced changes in four subpatterns of defense over a 24-hr period: withdrawal; immobility and movement constraint; risk assessment; and suppression of nondefensive behaviors. All Ss showed pronounced and consistent changes in each of these patterns, but dominant males alone showed increased risk assessment-related corner runs. These results provide an extensive description of rat defensive behaviors in a seminatural and relatively unstructured situation and suggest that the anxiety process is initially associated with withdrawal and movement arrest, giving way to a crucial and long-lasting risk-assessment stage that provides information leading to either further defensiveness or a return to nondefensive behaviors. This analysis suggests new models for the study of anxiety.
Blanchard
R J
RJ
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822.
Blanchard
D C
DC
D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001143:Arousal; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002415:Cats; D003259:Consummatory Behavior; D004924:Escape Reaction; D005260:Female; D009043:Motor Activity; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D051381:Rats; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012931:Social Environment