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Kinship, familiarity and social status modulate social learning about “micropredators” (biting flies) in deer mice

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Abstract

Animals can learn to recognize and respond to dangerous, threatening factors through either individual or social learning, whereby an individual learns and acquires the defensive behaviors and avoidance responses of another. Here we show that kinship, familiarity, and relative dominance of the interacting individuals affect social learning of defensive responses to “micropredators” in deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus. Brief exposure of individual male deer mice to biting flies (stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans) induced a decrease in pain sensitivity, or analgesia, and active self-burying avoidance responses. The defensive analgesic responses and their fear/anxiety/stress associated correlates facilitate the display of behavioral avoidance responses. Preparatory analgesia and avoidance responses were evident 1–3 days later when the mice were exposed to biting flies that were altered to be incapable of biting but were not displayed to similar-sized non-biting house flies. These anticipatory avoidance and analgesic responses to biting flies were also acquired through social learning—without direct individual aversive experience with biting flies. Fly-naive mice (observers) that witnessed other mice (demonstrators) being attacked by biting flies but themselves were not bitten did not display any avoidance responses. However, when exposed 1–3 days later to altered flies with biting mouth parts removed, the observers displayed socially acquired analgesic and self-burying avoidance responses. Observers whose demonstrators were either kin (siblings) and, or members of a familiar pair (kin or non-kin) displayed enhanced social learning of defensive responses. Also, within the familiar pairs, social status affected learning with subordinate observers displaying better social learning than dominant observers. These findings indicate that kinship, familiarity and social status modulate social learning of defensive responses to, and the recognition of, dangerous and threatening stimuli, likely including that of predators.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Terry Seely, Joan Ingoldsby and Dawn Gray for their assistance. This study was supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (D.D.C.) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (E.C. and M.K.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2 , Canada

    Martin Kavaliers

  2. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 300, Main Lethbridge, AB, T1J 4B1 , Canada

    Douglas D. Colwell

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, NIG 2WI, Canada

    Elena Choleris

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  1. Martin Kavaliers
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  2. Douglas D. Colwell
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Correspondence to Martin Kavaliers.

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Communicated by G. Wilkinson

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Kavaliers, M., Colwell, D.D. & Choleris, E. Kinship, familiarity and social status modulate social learning about “micropredators” (biting flies) in deer mice. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 58, 60–71 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-004-0896-0

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