Attack and defensive behaviour in the albino rat
Abstract
Attack of dominant colony males of an albino rat (Rattus norvegicus) strain, on introduced strangers, produced a non-random distribution of bites, with ventral trunk virtually never bitten. Also, vibrissae-contact of attacker and defender interfered with bites to the defender's head and upper back. The specific agonistic reactions of attacking and defending rats appeared to involve strategies based on these limitation on attack: defenders utilized 'boxing' and lying 'on-the-back' behaviour, which interposed ventral trunk and vibrissae between attacker and defender. In turn, the 'lateral display' permitted attackers to circumvent the defender's behaviour. Limitations on attack therefore appeared to underlie the specific agonistic behaviour of both attacking and defending rats.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Serious fighting in rats involves attacking other body targets, namely the flanks and rump, which are bitten if contacted.
“serious fighting involves attacking other body targets, namely the flanks and rump, which are bitten if contacted (Blanchard et al., 1977; Pellis and Pellis, 1987).”
From The rough-and-tumble play of rats as a natural behavior suitable for studying the social brain (2022) · cites this paper as Blanchard et al., 1977
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Regulation of affect by the lateral septum: implications for neuropsychiatry
Sheehan, T. P., Chambers, R. A., & Russell, D. S. (2004) · Brain Research Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2004.04.009 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
The psychobiology of play: Theoretical and methodological perspectives
Panksepp, J., Siviy, S., & Normansell, L. (1984) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/0149-7634(84)90005-8 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
Conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits in youth
Blair, R. J. R., Leibenluft, E., & Pine, D. S. (2014) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmra1315612 · Cited by 371 · see citing works
Fanselow, M. S. (1986) · Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/0023-9690(86)90018-4 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
de la Mora, M. P., Gallegos-Cari, A., Arizmendi-García, Y., Marcellino, D., & Fuxe, K. (2010) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.10.010 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
Attack and defense in rodents as ethoexperimental models for the study of emotion
Blanchard, R. J., & Blanchard, D. C. (1989) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/0278-5846(89)90105-x · Cited by 296 · see citing works
Self-citationTonic immobility as an evolved predator defense: implications for sexual assault survivors
Marx, B. P., Forsyth, J. P., Gallup, G. G., Fusé, T., & Lexington, J. M. (2008) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2850.2008.00112.x · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Suchecki, D., & Tufik, S. (2000) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(99)00181-x · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Bell, H. C., Pellis, S. M., & Kolb, B. (2010) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2009.09.029 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
What can animal aggression research tell us about human aggression?
Blanchard, D. C., & Blanchard, R. J. (2003) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0018-506x(03)00133-8 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Self-citationLife-span studies of dominance and aggression in established colonies of laboratory rats
Blanchard, R. J., Flannelly, K. J., & Blanchard, D. C. (1988) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/0031-9384(88)90089-3 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Blanchard, D. C., & Blanchard, R. J. (1990) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80068-5 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Self-citationProblems in the study of rodent aggression
Blanchard, R. J., Wall, P. M., & Blanchard, D. C. (2003) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0018-506x(03)00127-2 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Self-citationDynamic body weight and body composition changes in response to subordination stress
Tamashiro, K. L. K., Hegeman, M. A., Nguyen, M. M. N., Melhorn, S. J., Ma, L. Y., Woods, S. C., & Sakai, R. R. (2007) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.04.004 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Whishaw, I. Q., Metz, G. A. S., Kolb, B., & Pellis, S. M. (2001) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.1041 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
The resident-intruder paradigm: a standardized test for aggression, violence and social stress
Koolhaas, J. M., Coppens, C. M., de Boer, S. F., Buwalda, B., Meerlo, P., & Timmermans, P. J. A. (2013) · Journal of Visualized Experiments · doi:10.3791/4367-v · Cited by 98 · see citing works
ARAKAWA, H., BLANCHARD, D., & BLANCHARD, R. (2007) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2006.07.027 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Self-citationHimmler, B. T., Stryjek, R., Modlinska, K., Derksen, S. M., Pisula, W., & Pellis, S. M. (2013) · Journal of Comparative Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0032187 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Dominance status predicts social fear transmission in laboratory rats
Jones, C. E., & Monfils, M.-H. (2016) · Animal Cognition · doi:10.1007/s10071-016-1013-2 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Peering into the Dynamics of Social Interactions: Measuring Play Fighting in Rats
Himmler, B. T., Pellis, V. C., & Pellis, S. M. (2013) · Journal of Visualized Experiments · doi:10.3791/4288 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Looming animate and inanimate threats: The response of the amygdala and periaqueductal gray
Coker-Appiah, D. S., White, S. F., Clanton, R., Yang, J., Martin, A., & Blair, R. J. R. (2013) · Social Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17470919.2013.839480 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Play fighting and the development of the social brain: The rat’s tale
Pellis, S. M., Pellis, V. C., Ham, J. R., & Stark, R. A. (2023) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105037 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Hamilton, D. A., Barto, D., Rodriguez, C. I., Magcalas, C. M., Fink, B. C., Rice, J. P., Bird, C. W., Davies, S., & Savage, D. D. (2014) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2014.04.029 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
The neurobiology of offensive aggression: Revealing a modular view
de Boer, S. F., Olivier, B., Veening, J., & Koolhaas, J. M. (2015) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.04.040 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Stark, R., & Pellis, S. M. (2020) · International Journal of Play · doi:10.1080/21594937.2020.1720142 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
The rough-and-tumble play of rats as a natural behavior suitable for studying the social brain
Pellis, S. M., Pellis, V. C., Ham, J. R., & Achterberg, E. J. M. (2022) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1033999 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“Rats are a particularly good model species for studying RTP, as this behavior not only differs from serious fighting in the ways described above, but also because serious fighting involves attacking other body targets, namely the flanks and rump, which are bitten if contacted (Blanchard et al., 1977; Pellis and Pellis…”
Background
- Authors
- Blanchard, R. J., Blanchard, D. C., Takahashi, T., & Kelley, M. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
- Corresponding author
- Blanchard, Robert J.
- Venue
- Animal Behaviour
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1977-08
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 622-634
- ISSN
- 0003-3472 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1967047746
- Cited by
- 371
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 36.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Animal Behaviour (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- attack behavior, defensive behavior, agonistic behavior, Rattus norvegicus, albino rats, lateral display, dominance, interspecific aggression
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Anesthesia, Local, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Hair, Hierarchy, Social, Humans, Male, Posture, Reaction Time, Social Dominance, Social Environment, Wounds and Injuries, Rats
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
