Familiarity and Inbreeding Avoidance in the Gray-Tailed Vole (Microtus canicaudus)

Abstract

The role of familiarity in inbreeding avoidance was tested in captive gray-tailed voles (Microtus canicaudus) in the laboratory. Individuals that were familiar with one another, regardless of relatedness, produced fewer litters than unfamiliar pairs. There were no apparent differences in litter size or pup viability between siblings versus non-siblings. Recognition of kin was based on familiarity. Individuals that were separated for 5 or 12 days from potential partners with whom they had been reared retained their mating avoidance. In the held, familiarity of voles may increase in low density populations and reproductive behavior may decline as a result. Thus, familiarity, kin recognition, and inbreeding avoidance may play important roles in vole population cycles.