Revisiting the “visible burrow system”: The impact of the group, social rank, and gender on voles under owl attack

Curiosity as an approach to ethoexperimental analysis: Behavioral neuroscience as seen by students and colleagues of Bob Blanchard

“…In the same vein, we measured the levels of corticosteroids in grouped voles that were attacked by an owl compared with voles that were not attacked, and assessed their response while emphasizing the impact of gender and social rank. We found that females had higher blood corticosterone than males, and that corticosterone levels for both increased after owl attack compared to the level before the owl attack (Bodek and Eilam, 2015). In terms of social rank, the moderate behavioral change noted in males with higher social rank under owl attack (Figure 2) was also reflected in their steady level of corticosterone (Figure 3, arrow).…”

“…Specifically, some of the results obtained by Bob and Caroline Blanchard by introducing a domestic cat on top of the VBS and examining the response of individual laboratory rats that were inside it, were also reflected in our study with barn owls ( Tyto alba ) attacking groups of social voles ( Microtus socialis guentheri ) (Bodek and Eilam, 2015). The findings of the Blanchards most relevant to our work:

Dominant male rats were least affected by the cat compared to subordinate males.

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“…Data are depicted for voles that were exposed to the owl (right) compared with voles that were not exposed to it (left - see Bodek and Eilam, 2015 for detailed analysis of these results). Note that the corticosterone levels are relatively stable in high mass voles (arrow and dotted line).…”