ATTRACTION-AVOIDANCE RESPONSE OF MOUND-BUILDING MOUSE, MUS SPICILEGUS IN AGROECOSYSTEMS TO CONSPECIFIC AND HETEROSPECIFIC ODOURS

D. Simeonovska-Nikolova

Abstract: The behavioral responses of male mound-building mice Mus spicilegus to odours from males of their own species and odors from males of another species – house mouse Mus musculus musculus and yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis were studied in an attraction–avoidance test in order to clarify the role of odour in their relationships in wild populations in agricultural land. The experiments were carried out in the breeding season. M. spicilegus males showed attraction to conspecific odours from the same sex, but indifference to heterospecific odours of male M. m. musculus, and avoidance to odours of male A. fl avicollis. The behavioural responses to conspecific and heterospecific odours are discussed in terms of attractiveness of odour cues, according to their significance in social relationships and spacing behaviour.

Keywords: Apodemus; behavioural response; competition; Mus; odour discrimination; olfactory cues

Date published: 2017-09-28