Effects of experience and available cues on estrous versus diestrous preferences in male prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster.
Male prairie vole preferences for estrous versus diestrous females and associated stimuli were investigated. The role of sexual experience in engendering preferences proved more complex than reported for other species. Naive males did not display preferences. Neither males receiving sexual experience through monogamous cohabitation, nor males housed with two females displayed preferences. Males exposed to both estrous and diestrous females, and males housed with other males and females in a semi-naturalistic setting, displayed preferences. Thus, preferences seem to be "tuned" by experiential manipulations. Cues available for discrimination also influenced the display of preferences, as different results were obtained using apparatus that differed in cue availability. The observed pattern of responsiveness to sex odors may be related to the social organization and mating system of the prairie vole, a mammal that is believed to be monogamous.
Taylor
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SA
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611.
Dewsbury
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DA
D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000502:physiology*; D003307:Copulation / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010675:Pheromones / Q000502:physiology*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012931:Social Environment
D010675:Pheromones; D012724:Sex Attractants