Urine marking and social dominance in male house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)
Abstract
House mice use urine marking for a variety of forms of social communication. Urine marking varies with dominance status; socially dominant male house mice urine mark more than those that are socially subordinate. Experiment I was designed to confirm this previous finding. Experiment II was designed to test whether urine marking, measured prior to testing males for aggression, could be used to predict social dominance. Mice were tested for urine marking in 20 cmx40 cm rectangular cages with filter paper below the wire mesh bottom of the cage. In Experiment I, groups of four males were tested in a round robin design to assess social dominance and were then placed individually in urine marking cages. Social dominance was a significant predictor of the number of 1 cm squares that contained urine marks, both with regard to interior squares and for perimeter squares in the test cage. In Experiment II, groups of four males were first tested individually in urine marking cages and then used for round robin aggressive encounters to assess social dominance. The number of interior squares with urine marks, and, to a lesser extent, the number of perimeter squares with urine marks, were both significant predictors of aggression scores and social dominance status. Being able to judge social dominance without having the mice encounter each other could be a valuable tool for future work; confounding effects on such parameters as hormone levels could be avoided while obtaining an estimate of male social dominance status.
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Social dominance can be reliably found in mice kept in captivity, both laboratory mice and wild ones.
“Keeping this limitation in mind, social dominance can be reliably found in mice kept in captivity.This is true both for laboratory mice 72,92,96,135,136 and wild ones.80,137”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [137]
Dominant mice leave more scent marks, which probably repels subordinates.
“Dominants are known to leave more scent marks, which probably repels subordinates as well.89,137”
From Ecological validity of social interaction tests in rats and mice (2019) · cites this paper as [137]
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- Authors
- Drickamer, L. C.
- Affiliations
- Northern Arizona University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Drickamer, Lee C
- Venue
- Behavioural Processes
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2001-03
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 113-120
- ISSN
- 0376-6357 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2071074966
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavioural Processes (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Keywords
- urine marking, social dominance, house mice, Mus musculus domesticus, male aggression, social communication
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