| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1989: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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| Research Abstract |
1)Sex-attractants emitted by male mice. It was confirmed that female-attracting property of excreted male urine depends on both urinary substances and preputial secretion. As to urinary factors, it was found that not only two known compounds, but also other unknown factors are involved.(Kimura)
2)Urine-marking responses of female mice to male urine odors. Estimation of female urine-marking under the influence of male urine odors revealed that the response does not correlate with the odor preference of females. This indicates that female urine-marking is not a simple reflection of sexual motivation, but possibly a phenomenon of a complex motivational system.(Kimura)
3)Analysis of factors regulating paternal behaviors in male mice. Male mouse which cohabited with a female until her parturition shows retrieving and nest-building towards pups much more frequently than sexually naive males. Experimental analysis of external factors involved in the expression of these paternal responses reveal
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ed that the experience of copulation enhances paternal responses, while cohabitation with females or kin-recognition has no effect.
4)Behavioral ecology of Japanese dormice. Japanese dormouse (Glirulus japonicus) is a rodent species endemic to Japan and is a true hibernator, but its behaviors have been almost totally unknown. In this project, both field and laboratory studies of this species were performed and many new findings have been obtained as follows. a) this species is solitary wonderer and each individual moves around in a wide area. b)the staple food is small insects. c)They start to show daily torpor (lowering body temperature down to that of environment only during daytime) at early autumn possibly in order to save energy, and fall in hibernation after the body weight decreases to a certain critical level. d)During hibernation, they become arousal periodically and get out of the nest for unknown purpose.
5)Urine-marking behaviors in two Japanese Apodemus species. Urination patterns of two wild rodent species, Apodemus argenteus and Apodemus speciosus were compared in captivity. It was found that A. argenteus, being similar to house mice, showed sexual dimorphism in the pattern and in males, the number of urine spots was influenced by the presence of odors of other individuals. On the other hand, A. speciosus did not show any particular urination pattern. This species difference will be helpful for the elucidation of the ecological meaning of urine-marking in rodent communication. Less
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