Post-weaning living with parents during juvenile period alters locomotor activity, social and parental behaviors in mandarin voles

Abstract

Neonatal parental care plays an important role in the development of offspring behavior, but little is known about the effect of post-weaning contact between offspring and parents on locomotory, social and parental behavior. Here, we explore this concept using socially monogamous mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus). Voles were assigned to live with parents and siblings from the same litter until 45d (natural dispersal time in the field) or to live with siblings from the same litter after weaning at 21d (normally weaned time, the control). At 70d of age, behaviors were recorded in open field and social interaction tests, and parental care toward their own offspring was measured. Results show that voles that live with parents post-weaning engaged in less locomotory activity and rearing behavior in the open field test, less sniffing of novel individuals and displayed more parental care, compared to voles that did not continue to live with their parents. These findings demonstrate that parent–offspring interaction post-weaning alters locomotory activity, social behavior and parental behavior of offspring at adulthood.