Individual Differences in the Behavior of Albino and Wild House Mice (<em>Mus musculus</em>)

Abstract

Adult male and female albino (AA) and wild (WW) housemice were individually evaluated in the laboratory for their performance in exploration (EX),insect predation (PD), burrowing (BW) and food hoarding (HD) activities. The results showed that (a) in both AA and WW adult mice there are individual differences (IDs), tending to be stable at least for periods of 60 days; (b) WW tended to show higher frequencies of the activities (WW males in EX and WW females in EX, PD, and HD); (c) significant sex differences occurred both in AA (with females scoring higher in EX and BW, and males in HD) and in WW (with higher female frequencies of burrowing); (d) individual animals had distinct combinations of performance in the four behavioral activities, suggesting independence among the motivational systems responsible for the regulation of these activities.