Wheel‐running activity: a new interpretation

Abstract

The wheel‐running activity of caged mammals has been misinterpreted for many years as a measure of ‘general activity’. A review of the literature and recent experimental evidence suggests that this behaviour has a far more specific function for the animal, and that its major and invaluable experimental use lies as both a field and laboratory tool for the studies of particular forms of migration. This new interpretation allows a greater understanding of the motivations underlying this widely‐monitored behaviour. Summary It is apparent that the nature of the response to an activity‐wheel has been greatly misunderstood for many years. The behaviour appears to be far more specific than previously thought, reflecting a type of inherent response which is not evident when activity is recorded by other methods. This report indicates that the wheel is used by a caged animal when the individual is motivated to reach an unattainable resource. This results in an urge to travel, either to remove itself from the immediate area, or to search for specific resources. It is proposed that when the goal is perceptually not present, the activity wheel is a specific monitor of ‘exploratory migration’, and reflects the urge to collect information about the location of resources. It implies, therefore, that the use of the activity‐wheel as a simple measure of ‘general activity’ should cease; the major future uses of this particular activity recording device should be in the studies of the daily, ontogenetic and seasonal variation in the incidence of exploratory migration, and the influence upon it of other environ‐ mental factors, as well as a method of investigating goal‐orientation, both in the field and the laboratory. This new interpretation provides a more precise explanation of what is being measured in wheel‐running experiments, and should result in a more specific use of wheel‐activity in experimentation.

Variation and homogeneity in affective responses to physical activity of varying intensities: An alternative perspective on dose – response based on evolutionary considerations

“…Rodents, whose spontaneous running behaviour has been studied more often than other species, have been found to run several kilometres per day (Koteja, Swallow, Carter, & Garland, 1999b;Mather, 1981). The distances per 24-h period that have been reported in the literature range from 3.5 km for weasels to 43 km for rats (Sherwin, 1998).…”

“…The distal function of voluntary wheel running has been debated extensively without a consensus being reached (Mather, 1981;Sherwin, 1998). According to Sherwin (1998), this activity appears to have a proximal function (i.e.…”

“…For Eikelboom (1999), the health benefits of wheel running suffice to substantiate the claim that its distal function is, in fact, the promotion and maintenance of health. For Mather (1981), wheel running represents a behavioural analogue to ''exploratory migration'', a reflection of the redirected drive to seek resources in the wild. A variation of the same idea is also supported by Koteja, Garland, Sax, Swallow and Carter (1999a), who view running as being representative of a tendency to travel distances and thus encounter more resources.…”

Are Voluntary Wheel Running and Open-Field Behavior Correlated in Mice? Different Answers from Comparative and Artificial Selection Approaches

“…Owing to the irreconcilable nature of dissimilar findings over a century of research, Sherwin (1998) suggested that ''wheel running may be an artifact of captive environments or of the running-wheel itself, possibly resulting from feedback dysfunction.'' In any case, many species of rodents will readily use running wheels promptly after they become available, and this behavior can occupy a substantial proportion of their time budget (Dewsbury 1980;Mather 1981;Sherwin 1998;Garland et al 2011b). Although behavioral ecologists have paid little if any attention to wheel running, some workers have speculated that it may reflect aspects of daily movement distance or home range size that would occur in nature (e.g., Swallow et al 2009;Feder et al 2010).…”

“…Later studies of activity in wheels housed inside or attached to cages suggested that wheel running may indicate general activity, exploration, migration, stereotypic activity, escape, play, and/or level of deprivation (e.g., food, water, conspecifics ;Mather 1981;Sherwin 1998). Owing to the irreconcilable nature of dissimilar findings over a century of research, Sherwin (1998) suggested that ''wheel running may be an artifact of captive environments or of the running-wheel itself, possibly resulting from feedback dysfunction.''…”