Abstract

The acoustic startle response (ASR) was studied in 20 gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica) and its characteristics were compared with those obtained from responses of 20 Wistar albino rats. The animals were exposed to 10 ms, 110 dB white noise acoustic pulses in the Coulbourn apparatus. Amplitude of ASR was normalized to the weight of animals and then analyzed. The results show that probability of a freezing response is much higher in the opossums that generally respond with lower startle amplitudes in comparison to rats. These differences may reflect different emotional characteristics of the two species, different reactions to fear in opossum and/or different ecological specializations of the two species.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.