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Captivity affects behavioral physiology: Plasticity in signaling sexual identity

Experientia volume 47, pages 31–38 (1991)Cite this article

Summary

Little is known about the link between captivity, physiology, and behavior in wild-caught vertebrates. Anecdotal evidence suggests that hormonal changes are responsible for behavioral changes in wild animals brought into captivity. Studying the effects of captivity on reproduction is hampered because wild animals often fail to exhibit sexual behavior under captive conditions. In weakly discharging electric fish, field studies have reported sex differences in electric organ discharges which are rarely seen in the laboratory. I now report the results of a series of laboratory investigations which show thatGnathonemus petersii exhibits seasonal, hormone-dependent, phasespecific sex differences in electric organ discharges. Captivity dramatically alters and may even reverse these sex differences as a result of rapid changes in endogenous plasma hormone levels. These findings have broad implications for research on animal physiology and behavior performed in laboratory settings.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. R. E. Landsman

    Present address: Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology, UCLA Medical Center (CHS), 10833 Le Conte Ave., 90024-1763, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, 10021, New York, New York

    R. E. Landsman

  2. Department of Herpetology and Ichthyology, The American Museum of Natural History, 10024, New York, New York, USA

    R. E. Landsman

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  1. R. E. Landsman
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Landsman, R.E. Captivity affects behavioral physiology: Plasticity in signaling sexual identity. Experientia 47, 31–38 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02041245

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02041245

Key words

  • Captivity
  • electric organ discharge (EOD)
  • sex differences
  • plasma hormone levels
  • androgens
  • estrogen
  • external morphology
  • behavioral plasticity