Abstract
Although the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) is noted for its docility and its nonaggressiveness toward littermates and human Es (Thiessen, 1968), it has been purported that the animal will attack viciously conspecifics of Utters other than its own. The present paper reports the results of a preliminary laboratory investigation of such intraspecific aggression. The authors have reported in another paper1 that gerbils both recognize and prefer their own litter environments to others. Would a “familiar” vs an “unfamiliar” discriminative response also occur in the case of aggression; i.e., would gerbils attack nonlittermates more frequently than littermates? Some instances of interspecific aggression (toward albino rats and mice) are also reported.
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References
MYER, J. S. Stimulus control of mouse-killing rats. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1964, 58, 112–117.
THIESSEN, D. D. The roots of territorial marking in the Mongolian gerbil: A problem of species-common topography. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation. 1968, 1, 70–76.
URLICH, R. E., & CRAINE, W. H. Behavior: Persistence of shock-induced aggression. Science, 1964, 143, 971–973.
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Ginsburg, H. J., & Braud, W. G. Decrement and shock-induced increment in preference of a familiar litter environment in the Mongolian gerbil. In preparation.
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Ginsburg, H.J., Braud, W.G. A laboratory investigation of aggressive behavior in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). Psychon Sci 22, 54–55 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335936
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335936