Document Detail


Contributions of endothermy to huddling behavior in infant Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  12234073     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Infant Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) do not exhibit endogenous heat production before 3 weeks of age and do not huddle effectively during cold exposure, gaining little thermoregulatory benefit from the presence of multiple littermates. In contrast, infant Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) produce heat endogenously and are effective at maintaining elevated body temperatures by huddling. Therefore, the ineffective huddling of infant hamsters may be due to the absence of endogenous heat production. The huddling behavior of infants in mixed huddles of 8-day-old hamsters and weight-matched 4-5-day-old rats was observed to explore this possibility. The results indicate that hamsters, even when cold, effectively gain access to heat-producing rats, supporting the idea that endothermy contributes to the behavior of huddling by providing heat to each individual and thermal stimuli to other infants to support aggregation.
Authors:
Greta Sokoloff; Mark S Blumberg
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983)     Volume:  116     ISSN:  0735-7036     ISO Abbreviation:  J Comp Psychol     Publication Date:  2002 Sep 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2002-09-17     Completed Date:  2003-02-12     Revised Date:  2007-11-14    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8309850     Medline TA:  J Comp Psychol     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  240-6     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Indiana University Bloomington, 47405, USA. gsokolof@indiana.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Animals, Newborn
Behavior, Animal / physiology*
Body Temperature Regulation / physiology*
Cricetinae
Mesocricetus
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Time Factors
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
MH50701/MH/NIMH NIH HHS

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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