Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles

iScience, Год журнала: 2025, Номер 28(2), С. 111796 - 111796

Опубликована: Янв. 11, 2025

Recognizing conspecifics is vital for differentiating mates, offspring, and social threats. Individual recognition often reliant upon chemical or visual cues but can also be facilitated by vocal signatures in some species. In common laboratory rodents, playback studies have uncovered communicative functions of vocalizations, scant behavioral evidence exists individual recognition. Here, we find that the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) emits behavior-dependent vocalizations communicate identity. Vocalizations males change after bonding with a female; however, acoustic variation across individuals greater than within-individual variation. Critically, females behaviorally discriminate their partner's from stranger's, even if emitted to another stimulus female. These results establish foundation voles, where neurobiological tools enable future revealing its causal neural mechanisms.

Язык: Английский

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Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Год журнала: 2024, Номер unknown

Опубликована: Июль 24, 2024

ABSTRACT Recognizing conspecifics is vitally important for differentiating kin, mates, offspring and social threats. 1 Although often reliant upon chemical or visual cues, individual recognition across the animal kingdom also facilitated by unique acoustic signatures in vocalizations. 2–4 However, amongst large Muroidea superfamily of rodents that encompasses laboratory species amenable to neurobiological studies, there scant behavioral evidence vocal despite variation. 5–10 Playback studies have found coarse communicative functions like mate attraction territorial defense, but limited finer ability discriminate known individuals’ 11–17 Such a capacity would be adaptive form lifelong pair bonds requiring partner identification timescales, distances sensory modalities, so improve chance finding Muroid rodent, we investigated communication prairie vole ( Microtus ochrogaster ) – one few socially monogamous mammals. 18 We ultrasonic vocalizations adult voles can communicate identity. Even though males change after cohabitating with female bond, variation individuals greater than within an different common context are identifiable above chance. Critically, females behaviorally their partner’s over stranger’s, even if emitted another stimulus female. These results establish foundation voles, where tools 19–22 enable future revealing its causal neural mechanisms. Highlights display Adult USVs more variable experience Individual identity decoded from Carefully constructed protocol sustains vole’s interest playback Female recognize mate’s

Язык: Английский

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Prompting social investigation

eLife, Год журнала: 2024, Номер 13

Опубликована: Июнь 10, 2024

A social memory pathway connecting the ventral hippocampus, lateral septum and tegmental area helps to regulate how mice react unknown individuals.

Язык: Английский

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