Skip to main content
Log in

Behavioral interactions of adult females of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) with conspecifics on familiar territory

  • Zoology
  • Published:
Biology Bulletin Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Interactions of overwintered females with conspecifics (≥5 days) on familiar territories were studied experimentally. In interactions of the resident females with unfamiliar overwintered females (28 experiments), there were no differences related to the reproductive status of both parties. Between the behavior of the residents and aliens, there were no significant differences, except the refusals of contacts—and aliens had more of it. Identification and affiliative behavior and the presence of ritualized aggression was noted. There was little direct aggression. Females were sharply aggressive toward the overwintered males (23 experiments) regardless of their reproductive status. Males tried to avoid contacts. Identification and affiliative behavior were rare. Toward yearlings (25 experiments), females that participated in reproduction were aggressive (direct aggression prevailed) but singles (9 experiments) were not.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barnard, C.J. and Brown, C.A.J., The Effects of Prior Residence, Competitive Ability and Food Availability on the Outcome of Interactions between Shrew (Sorex araneus L.), Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 1982, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 307–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein, D.T., The Evolution of Infanticide in Rodents, in Infanticide by Males and Its Implications, Schaik, C.P. and Janson, C.H., Eds., Cambridge: Camb. Univ. Press, 2000, pp. 178–197.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Borries, C., Launhardt, K., Epplen, C., et al., DNA Analyses Support the Hypothesis That Infanticide Is Adaptive in Langur Monkeys, Proc. Biol. Sci., 1999, vol. 266, no. 1422, pp. 901–904.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn, D.S., Fighting and Moult in Shrews: Fighting and the Defense of Territory, J. Zool., 1966, vol. 148, no. 4, pp. 580–582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bystrakova, N.V., Shchipanov, N.A., Bulatova, N.Sh., et al., New Data on the Geographic Distribution of Chromosome Races of Sorex araneus (Soricidae, Eulipotyphla) in European Russia, Rus. J. Theriol., 2007, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 105–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchfield, S., The Natural History of Shrews, London: Christopher Helm, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebensperger, L.A., Strategies and Counterstrategies to Infanticide in Mammals, Biol. Rev. Camb. Philosoph. Soc., 1998, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 321–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grinnell, J. and McComb, K., Maternal Grouping as a Defense against Infanticide by Males: Evidence from Field Playback Experiments on African Lions, Behav. Ecol., 1996, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 55–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S.B., Infanticide as a Primate Reproductive Strategy, Am. Sci., 1977, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 40–49.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S.B., Infanticide Among Animals: A Review, Classification, and Examination of the Implications for the Reproductive Strategies of Females, Ethol. Sociobiol., 1979, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 13–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ivanter, E.V. and Makarov, A.M., Study of the Territorial Structure of Populations of Small Insectivorous Mammals, in Biologiya, ekologiya, biotekhnologiya i pochvovedenie (Biology, Ecology, Biotechnology, and Soil Science), Moscow: Izd. Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1994, pp. 106–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivanter, E.V. and Makarov, A.M., Territorial’naya ekologiya zemleroek-burozubok (Insectivora, Sorex) (Territorial Ecology of Shrews (Insectivora, Sorex)), Petrozavodsk: Izd. Petrozav. Univ., 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khodashova, K.S. and Eliseeva, V.I., Zemleroiki v ekosistemakh Tsentral’noi lesostepi Russkoi ravniny (Eliseev Shrews in Ecosystems of the Central Forest-Steppe of the Russian Plain), Moscow: Nauka, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luchnikova, E.M., Ethological Factors of Community Organization of Shrews (Insectivora, Soricidae), Extended Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Biol.) Dissertation, Novosibirsk: IsiEZh SO RAN, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luchnikova, E.M., Il’yashenko, V.B., and Teplova, N.S., Age-Related Aspects of the Behavior of the Common Shrew (Sorex araneus L., 1758), Estestv. Tekhnich. Nauki, 2010, no. 2, pp. 150–153.

  • Michielsen, C.N., Intraspecific and Interspecific Competition in the Shrews Sorex araneus L. and Sorex minutus L., Arch. Neerl. Zool., 1966, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 73–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moraleva, N.V., Intraspecific Interactions in the Common Shrew Sorex araneus in Central Siberia, Ann. Zool. Fennici, 1989, no. 26, pp. 425–432.

  • Moraleva, N.V. and Sheftel’, B.I., Territorial Behavior of the Common Shrew in Puberty, in I Vsesoyuznoe soveshchanie po biologii nasekomoyadnykh mlekopitayushchikh. Novosibirsk, 4–7 fevralya 1992 g. (I All-Union Conference on the Biology of Insect-Eating Mammals. Novosibirsk, February 4–7, 1992), Moscow, 1992, pp. 120–121.

  • Moraleva, N.V., patial-Ethological Structure of a Population of the Common Shrew (Sorex araneus L.), Extended Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Biol.) Dissertation, Moscow: IEMEZh AN SSSR, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Kalinin, A.A., Demidova, T.B., and Kuptsov, A.V., The Use of Space by Overwintered Female Common Shrews (Insectivora, Soricidae) according to Life Trap Data, Zool. Zh., 2006, vol. 85, no. 4, pp. 533–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Behavioral Relationships of Overwintered Common Shrews (Sorex araneus) with Conspecific Shrews, in Teriofauna Rossii i sopredel’nykh territorii (VIII s”ezd Teriologich. o-va): Mater. mezhdunar. soveshch (Theriofauna of Russia and Adjacent Countries (Proc. VII Int. Congr. Theriol. Soc.), Moscow: KMK, 2007a, p. 351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Behavior of Juvenile Common (Sorex araneus), Laxmann’s (S. caecutiens), and Pigmy (S. minutus) on Colonized and Foreign Territory, Zool. Zh., 2007b, vol. 86, no. 10, pp. 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Kalinin, A.A., Demidova, T.B., and Kuptsov, A.V., The Use of Space by Overwintered Male Common Shrews (Insectivora, Soricidae) according to Life Trap Data, Zool. Zh., 2007, vol. 86, no. 3, pp. 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Analysis of the Types of Spatial Distribution of Animals according to Tagging Data on Transects (As Exemplified by Common Shrews), Biol. Bull., 2008, no. 6, pp. 757–764.

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Spatioethological Organization of Populations of the Common Shrew (Sorex araneus), in Povedenie i povedencheskaya ekologiya mlekopitayushchikh: Mater. 2-i nauchn. konf. Chernogolovka, 9–12 noyabrya 2009 g. (Proc. 2nd Sci. Conf. “Behavior and Behavioral Ecology of Mammals,” Chernogolovka, November 9–12, 2009), Moscow: KMK, 2009, p. 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Demidova, T.B., Kalinin, A.A., and Shchipanov, N.A., Notes on the Reproductive Behavior of the Common Shrew (Sorex araneus) in Captivity, Zool. Zh., 2011, vol. 90, no. 2, pp. 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleinichenko, V.Yu., Relationships between Adult Females and Settles Juveniles of the Common Shrew: The Competition for Space and Defense of Litters?, in Teriofauna Rossii i sopredel’nykh territorii: Mater. mezhdunar. soveshch (Proc. Int. Conf. “Theriofauna of Russia and Adjacent Areas”), Moscow: KMK, 2011, p. 344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychlik, L., Evolution of Social Systems in Shrews, in Evolution of Shrews, Wojcik, J.M. and Wolsan, M., Eds., Bialowieza: Mammal Res. Inst., Polish Acad. Sci., 1998, pp. 347–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J.B., Breeding the Common Shrew (Sorex araneus) in Captivity, Lab. Anim., 1984, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 359–363.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shchipanov, N.A., Kalinin, A.A., Oleinichenko, V.Yu., and Demidova, T.B., General Characteristic of the Behavior of Shrews (Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, S. minutus, and S. isodon (Insectivora, Soricidae), Zool. Zh., 1998, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 444–458.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shchipanov, N.A., Kalinin, A.A., Oleinichenko, V.Yu., et al., A Method to Study the Use of Space by Shrew, Zool. Zh., 2000, vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 362–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shchipanov, N.A., Kalinin, A.A., Demidova, T.B., et al., Population Ecology of Red-Toothed Shrews, Sorex araneus, S. caecutiens, S. minutus, and S. isodon, in Central Russia, in Advances in the Biology of Shrews II: Special Publ. of the I Int. Soc. Shrew Biol. (ISSB), 2005, no. 1, pp. 201–215.

  • Shchipanov, N.A., Bulatova, N.Sh., Pavlova, S.V., and Shchipanov, A.N., Common Shrew (Sorex araneus)-A Model Species for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Zool. Zh., 2009, vol. 88, no. 8, pp. 975–989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockley, P. and Searle, J.B., Shrew Mating Systems, in Evolution of Shrews, Wojcik, J.M. and Wolsan, M., Eds., Bialowieza: Mammal Res. Inst., Polish Acad. Sci., 1998, pp. 407–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stockley, P., Searle, J.B., Macdonald, D.W., and Jones, C.S., Female Multiple Mating Behaviour in the Common Shrew as a Strategy to Reduce Inbreeding, Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. B, 1993, vol. 254, pp. 173–179.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Yu. Oleinichenko.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © V.Yu. Oleinichenko, 2012, published in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya, 2012, No. 4, pp. 420–429.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Oleinichenko, V.Y. Behavioral interactions of adult females of the common shrew (Sorex araneus) with conspecifics on familiar territory. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 39, 351–359 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359012040073

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359012040073

Keywords

Navigation