Abstract: Early discrimination of the parents by offspring is important for obtaining the maximal level of parental care and resources in colonial species. Mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus)males exhibit high levels of paternal care. However, it remains unclear whether pre-weaning mandarin vole pups could recognize their father and form conditioned place preference. This was investigated by a series of behavioral tests. It was found that postnatal day (P)14 and P21 pups prefer their fathers over strange males in two-choice tests. Compared to encounters with strange males,P21 pups exhibited lower levels of social investigation and higher levels of following behavior when interacting with fathers. As well,dyads of P21 pup-fathers showed more amicable behaviour than dyads of P21 pup-strange males. However,no significant differences in social investigation or amicable behavior were found for P14 encounters,except for following behavior. In addition,we found that both P17 pups and P23 pups failed to display father induced place preference following 4 consecutive days (P13 - 16 or P19 - 22)of father reinforcing. Taken together,these results indicate that pre-weaning pups can recognize their fathers. Yet,they can not develop a place preference for fathers.

摘要： 群居性动物的幼仔对亲本的识别有利于获得最大化的亲本抚育。雄性棕色田鼠对幼仔具有较高水平的父本投资,那么幼仔在断乳前是否能够识别父鼠并形成条件位置偏爱(Conditioned place preference,CPP)呢?本研究通过双向选择测试、社会互作测试以及CPP 测试探讨了这一问题。双向选择结果显示,与陌生雄鼠相比,出生后14 d 和21 d 的幼仔对父鼠访问的持续时间及潜伏期有显著性差异(P < 0.05);社会互作结果表明,14 d幼仔对父鼠的跟随行为较陌生雄鼠多,但探究行为及亲密行为没有显著性差异(P > 0.05),21 d 幼仔对父鼠的探究行为较少、跟随行为和亲密行为较多(P < 0.05)。CPP 结果表明,在连续4 d (出生后13 ～ 16 d;19 ～ 22 d)的父鼠强化后,第17 d 和第23 d 的幼仔不能形成对父鼠的位置偏爱(P > 0.05)。这些结果说明断乳前的棕色田鼠幼仔已能够识别父鼠和陌生雄鼠,但不能形成对父鼠的位置偏爱。

关键词: 亲缘识别, 断乳, 双向选择实验, 社会互作, 强化