%0 Journal Article %A JIN Yanfei %A LI Qilin %A XIONG Yan %A ZHANG Li %T Female Brandt’s vole’s memory and recognition of male individual odors in different cohabitation periods %D 2013 %R %J ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA %P 68-73 %V 33 %N 1 %X Chemical signals play important roles in the social recognition of rodents including individual identification,learning and memory. Males and females may recognize each other after cohabiting for a period of time. The research studiedthe effect of the cohabitation duration on the memory and the recognition of female Brandt’s vole (Lasiopodomys
brandtii
) . Male and female voles were kept in mating pairs and cohabited for 12 hours,18 hours and 24 hours together. After being separated for 6 hours,both spouse and novel males’individual odors were presented to female voles for a 20 minute odor preference test. The results showed that females spent more time staying in the observation box with spouse odors,and their odor investigating behaviors on spouse male odors were also more than those on novel male odors. The duration and frequency of females’ investigating behaviors were significantly related to the cohabitation duration with their mates. These results suggest that female Brandt’s voles can remember and recognize their mates after 24-hour cohabitation, and the female vole’s olfactory memory can be maintained at least 6 hours or more. %U http://www.mammal.cn/EN/abstract/article_2908.shtml