| Affiliation: | (1) Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Zhongguancun Road, 100080 Beijing, China;(2) Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering and Institute of Ecology, Beijing Normal University, 100875 Beijing , China;(3) Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5, Canada |
| Abstract: | The roles of kinship in agonistic behavior and mate choice were evaluated in Brandt's voles (Microtus brandti). In chambers bedded with familiar or unfamiliar substrates, the aggressive behavior and social investigation towards adult unfamiliar same-sex siblings and non-siblings were examined, and no significant kin bias was found. Males sniffed and followed unfamiliar unrelated females significantly more than unfamiliar sibling sisters, but males did not show significant preferences in copulatory behavior and agonistic behavior. Females spent significantly more time copulating with unfamiliar unrelated males than with their unfamiliar sibling brothers, while they did not show a significant preference in social investigation between them. Our study shows that kinship might play a role in the inbreeding avoidance based on preweaning familiarity or/and phenotype matching, but the role of kinship in agonistic behavior remains unclear. |
