Communication at the Garden Fence--Context Dependent Vocalization in Female House Mice

House mice (Mus musculus) live in social groups where they frequently interact with conspecifics, thus communication (e.g. chemical and/or auditory) is essential. It is commonly known that male and female mice produce complex vocalizations in the ultrasonic range (USV) that remind of high-pitched bi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2016-03, Vol.11 (3), p.e0152255-e0152255
Main Authors: Hoier, Svenja, Pfeifle, Christine, von Merten, Sophie, Linnenbrink, Miriam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal communication
Animal social behavior
Animals
Biology and Life Sciences
Communication
Complexity
Conspecifics
Cues
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Experiments
Female
Females
Gardens & gardening
Gene expression
House mouse
Mate selection
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mice
Mus musculus
Physical Sciences
Rodents
Social aspects
Social behavior
Social factors
Social interactions
Social Sciences
Studies
Tape Recording
Vocalization behavior
Vocalization, Animal - physiology
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Summary:House mice (Mus musculus) live in social groups where they frequently interact with conspecifics, thus communication (e.g. chemical and/or auditory) is essential. It is commonly known that male and female mice produce complex vocalizations in the ultrasonic range (USV) that remind of high-pitched birdsong (so called mouse song) which is mainly used in social interactions. Earlier studies suggest that mice use their USVs for mate attraction and mate choice, but they could also be used as signal during hierarchy establishment and familiarization, or other communication purposes. In this study we elucidated the vocalization behaviour of interacting female mice over an extended period of time under semi-natural conditions. We asked, if the rate or structure of female vocalization differs between different social and non-social contexts. We found that female USV is mainly used in social contexts, driven by direct communication to an unknown individual, the rate of which is decreased over time by a familiarization process. In addition we could show that female mice use two distinct types of USVs, differing in their frequency, which they use differently depending on whether they directly or indirectly communicate with another female. This supports the notion that vocalization in mice is context dependent, driven by a reasonable and yet underestimated amount of complexity that also involves the interplay between different sensory signals, like chemical and auditory cues.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0152255