The adaptive profile: Comparative psychology of red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi).

Abstract

Collected data on the behavioral patterns displayed by 55 male and 32 female voles in tests of 10 categories of behavior: home cage activity, wheel running, open-field behavior, sexual dimorphism for body mass, copulatory behavior, tonic and dorsal immobility, climbing, swimming, digging, and nest building. These data were used to construct a 13-scale adaptive profile so that Ss' behavior could be easily and meaningfully assessed with respect to the full range of scores observed in other species tested under similar conditions. Their behavioral patterns emerged as a complex, reflecting both their microtine classification and forest-dwelling ecology. It is suggested that the profile provides a quantitative and ecologically meaningful basis for understanding the behavioral tendencies that adapt a species for life in a particular habitat. Also, rodents of this superfamily provide an ideal group for behavioral study because of the large number of native species and their ease of adaptability in the laboratory. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)