Sex difference in the control of scent-marking behavior in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus).

Abstract

The first experiment was an investigation of the importance of the gonadal hormones in the control of the scent-marking behavior of the adult female. Gonadectomy did not lead to the decrease in marking which had been expected from previous studies with males. The second experiment was a longitudinal study of the development of scent marking in the female. The subjects were ovariectomized or given sham operations at 22 days of age. The experiment demonstrated that the gonadal hormones are not required for the development of marking in the young female. In both experiments morphological measures of the ventral sebaceous scent gland and the presence of the vaginal orifice were affected by gonadectomy.a This paper is based on portions of a dissertation submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree,

Androgen mediated effects of male fetuses on the behavior of dams late in pregnancy

“…In the present study, we looked for correlations between the gender composition of the litter that pregnant gerbils were carrying and the frequency of their scent-marking behavior late in pregnancy. Scent marking is an androgen-sensitive behavior in female gerbils (Whitsett & Thiessen, 1972;Thiessen & Lindzey, 1970;Yahr, 1976) easily quantified in the laboratory without either elaborate equipment or intrusive manipulation of subjects. Plasma testosterone levels of gerbil dams late in pregnancy are correlated with both the sex ratio of and number of males in gestated litters (Clark, Crews, & Galef, 1991).…”

Scent marking in gerbils and its possible functions

“…Scent sources and related scent-marking patterns Due to numerous laboratory studies carried out on the Mongolian gerbil (Thiessen, 1968;Lindzey et al, 1968;Thiessen et al, 1969;Whitsett & Thiessen, 1972;Owen & Thiessen, 1973), it is known that both males and females of this species have a ventral sebaceous gland and use its secretion for scent marking. This marking occurs as follows: the animal crawls over some object, its abdomen closely pressed to the surface, and leaves the secretion of the ventral gland on that place (so-called ventral rubbing).…”

“…Scent-marking activity of gerbils varies significantly depending on species, sex, age, reproductive conditions, social and territorial status of the individual, and shows pronounced seasonal variation (Thiessen et al, 1969;Whitsett & Thiessen, 1972;Halpin, 1974;Prakash & Kumari, 1979;Kumari & Prakash, 1981a, b;Payman & Swanson, 1981;Kittrell et al, 1982;Gromov, 1997Gromov, , 2000Gromov, , 2011aSokolov & Gromov, 1998). The variability of scent-marking activity might be accounted for by a number of factors both stimulating and suppressing the scent-marking behavior.…”

Gerbils

“…In males, the gonadal androgens act on the medial preoptic area of the brain (Commins and Yahr, 1984;Thiessen and Yahr, 1970). In the female there is contradictory information regarding the influence of estrogen and progesterone on marking behavior (Thiessen and Lindzey, 1970;Wallace et al, 1973;Whitsett and Thiessen, 1972). Male gerbils scent mark more frequently than females (Lindzey and Carbonell, 1968) and gerbils with black coat color tend to mark more often than those with brown coat color (Turner and Carbonell, 1984).…”