Table 1. Ethograms for behavioral assays.
Dominance Tube Test | |
Win | Subject animal remains in tube and the stimulus animal has fully exited the tube with all four paws on the ground. |
Lose | Subject animal fully exits the tube with all four paws on the ground while the stimulus animal remains in the tube. |
Tie | Neither animal fully exits tube within 3 minutes. |
Novel Object Investigation | |
Latency to approach | Time at which subject’s nose is first within 1 cm of the object. |
Time near object * | Subject is within one body length of the object but does not need to be oriented towards or actively investigating the object. |
Time investigating object * | Subject’s nose is within 1 cm of the object. |
Social Approach Test | |
Latency to approach | Time at which subject is first within one body length to the barrier. |
Time near stimulus * | Subject is within one body length of the barrier but does not need to be oriented towards or actively investigating the subject. |
Time investigating stimulus * | Subject’s nose is within 1 cm of the barrier. |
Resident Intruder & Social Interaction Tests | |
Prosocial Behavior | |
Allogrooming | Subject grooms the stimulus animal. |
Huddling | Subject and stimulus animals are either touching flanks or laying on top of each other. |
Positive investigation | Subject sniffs or investigates stimulus animal without apparent aggression. |
Positive side-by-side contact | Subject and stimulus animal are passively touching sides without apparent aggression. |
Aggressive Behavior | |
Aggressive side-by-side contact | Subject and stimulus animals are touching flanks in an aggressive manner, sometimes between aggression bouts. |
Biting | Subject bites the stimulus animal. |
Chasing | Subject is aggressively chasing the stimulus animal and is the initiator for the entire event. Does not include non-aggressive following. |
Lunging/Attacking/Rolling | Subject lunges at, swipes paws at, or rolls around with stimulus vole in aggression. |
Pinning | Subject pins stimulus down. |
Rearing | Subject is rearing up on hind paws in either offense or defense. |
Nonsocial Behavior | |
Autogrooming | Subject grooms itself while not in contact with the stimulus animal. |
* denotes that the behavioral state can co-occur with other states within an assay. Otherwise, all behavioral states are mutually exclusive.