A combined field and laboratory study on social odor for the gray-sided vole Clethrionomys rufocanus

Abstract

Behavioral responses of wild-caught gray-sided voles Clethrionomys rufocanus to the odors of neighboring individuals and of strangers were observed in the laboratory. Differences between the sexes in behavioral responses to social odors are discussed in relation to social organization in the field. In a free ranging population in an early breeding season, females maintained mutually exclusive home ranges, whereas males held home ranges that overlapped with each other and covering the ranges of one or more females. Four pairs of neighbors and four pairs of strangers were taken from the population for each sex and behavioral response to social odor to be observed in the laboratory. Although we explored differences in several behavioral responses between sexes, no marked qualitative differences were observed; however, females tended to spend longer in the odorized terrarium than in the control terrarium, compared with males.