Parental care and sexual interactions in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) during the postpartum estrus

Microscopic evaluation of proliferative disorders in the gerbil female prostate: Evidence of aging and the influence of multiple pregnancies

“…In the Mongolian gerbil, the length of gestation is 24-26 days (Nakai et al, 1960) and parental care by female and male immediately after the birth had been noticed (Prates and Guerra, 2005). Prolactin, released by the pituitary after parturition, is involved in rodent maternal behavior, although species differences exist during both the onset and the maintenance of this behavior (Bridges et al, 1997;McCarthy et al, 1994).…”

Home-range sizes of social groups of Mongolian gerbils Meriones unguiculatus

“…In late autumn, reproduction ceases and all members of a group hoard food for winter (Ågren et al, 1989b;Liu et al, 2001). M. unguiculatus is also a model species for studies of rodent social behavior conducted in a laboratory (Clark and Galef, 2000;Prates and Guerra, 2005) and under seminatural conditions (Ågren, 1976;Roper and Polioudakis, 1977); however, under semi-natural conditions, studies of social behavior and spacing behavior are affected by limited space and restricted movement (Ågren, 1976;Roper and Polioudakis, 1977). Recent work has helped to elucidate the ecology and the population ecology of wild Mongolian gerbils (Ågren et al, 1989a,b;Liu et al, 2009b;Wang and Zhong, 2006;Xia et al, 1982).…”

The ornamental fighting fish is the next model organism for genetic studies

“…The third question relates to the specific genes involved in parental care and how variations in these genes act within neuronal circuits to alter behaviour. The maintenance of parental care behaviour in cultured B. splendens 21 offers the opportunity to study the mechanism and origins of this trait without the use of wild species, with advantages over existing mechanistic models such as mice 40 and gerbils, which exhibit infanticide, 41 and zebrafish which show little behaviour 42 in such explicit terms such as nest building and defence in B. splendens .…”