title: Adult-young interaction in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus ) in relation to duration of separation, age and kinship.
abstract: Mated pairs of Mongolian gerbils were rejoined by two of their own young, of both sexes, after periods of separation starting when the young were four or seven weeks of age and lasting either one or four weeks. An additional group of young was separated from their parents when six weeks old, this time for two weeks. The occurrence of sniffing, opposition and pursuit behaviour between each adult and each young gerbils was noted over a period of one hour. Our experiments showed differences in the behaviour of parents in relation to the period of isolation. Sniffing decreased and agonistic behaviour increased as the duration of separation increased. The duration of separation was of greater importance than age when separated. In the second part of the study, mated pairs were confronted with two unrelated young gerbils of both sexes, aged 5, 8 or 11 weeks, separated from their parents for respectively 1, 2 and 4 weeks. Similar experiments were carried out with groups of young of the same age, separated from their parents for one hour, and tested either with their parents or with unrelated mated pairs. Analysis of the experiments confirmed that interaction between adults and young depended more on the duration of separation than on age. Kinship resulted in less sniffing of both types of young by the adult female during the one hour separation experiments. In the course of these experiments, pursuit and opposition were almost totally absent. In our experiments, the determinant factor of adult-young relationship was the development of the young withdrawn from the influence of parents rather than age or Kinship.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ethologie expérimentale, Université Claude Bernard. 69007. Lyon. France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Le Guelte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: le Berre
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amagat