Ontogeny of tactile, vocal and kinship dynamics in rat pup huddling.

ABSTRACT: Huddling, a tactile, thermoregulatory and affiliative social interaction, is a predominant and conserved behaviour for mammalian and bird species. Huddling is particularly important in early life, when thermoregulation, touch and bonding are influential for survival, brain and behavioural development. Our study aims to understand how tactile, vocal and kinship dynamics develop in rat pups. We designed a huddling apparatus where we synchronise huddle formation with ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs). With development, we see that groups (P6-8 vs older pups) stay longer in triad aggregon (pup huddle) configurations in the huddle trial period. Older pups (P18-20) switch huddle states more often; in all ages, join transitions were preferred to breaking. The spectral characteristics of rat pup USV

SUBMITTER: da Rocha-Almeida F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12271662 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature