Endocrine and behavioral differences between dominant and subordinate male house mice housed in pairs

Abstract

Adult male mice of proved fertility were housed in pairs for a period of 17 days. On the 17th day of such housing, the dominant and the subordinate member of each pair were identified by the degree of wounding and their behavior. Each mouse was then placed for 5 min in an aggression test situation with an immature “standard” opponent and its behavior observed. On the following day, the mice were killed and the weights of the bodies and a number of endocrine glands were obtained. Although there were no significant differences between dominant and subordinate individuals on any of the behavioral measures, the organ weight study confirmed that subordinate mice are characterized by high adrenocortical and low gonadal activity when compared to the dominant animals. © 1972, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.