2025 Hyper Recent •CC0 1.0 Universal

This work is dedicated to the public domain. No rights reserved.

Access Preprint From Server
July 3rd, 2025
Version: 2
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
animal behavior and cognition
biorxiv

Social hierarchy and behavioral individuality in colonies of isogenic female mice

Conabady, E.Open in Google Scholar•Vernochet, C.Open in Google Scholar•Gulmez, A.Open in Google Scholar•Marti, F.Open in Google Scholar•Faure, P.Open in Google Scholar•Parnaudeau, S.Open in Google Scholar•Tronche, F.Open in Google Scholar

The mechanisms underlying social organization in mice have predominantly been studied in male colonies, where sociability predicts higher rank and high-ranked individuals show greater anxiety. Here, we demonstrate that groups of isogenic female mice also form stable social hierarchies. Our data indicate that females destined for high rank already exhibit greater sociability and possibly higher anxiety before group formation, and these traits remain consistent afterwards. We further investigated the influence of sex by creating mixed-sex colonies, which revealed a similar hierarchical structure, with both males and females having equal chances of becoming high- or low-ranked. We previously found reduced dopamine neuron activity in high-ranked males; in contrast, high-ranked females show the opposite pattern. Furthermore, while glucocorticoid receptor signaling in dopaminoceptive neurons restricts high rank in males, this effect is absent in females. Overall, these results highlight sex-specific mechanisms that contribute to social ranking and related behavioral traits in mice.

Similar Papers

biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Better Safe Than Sorry: Leg Amputations as a Prophylactic Wound Care Behaviour in Carpenter Ants
Animals often sustain injuries, which are susceptible to lethal infections. In social insects, wound care behaviours have evolved to reduce these risks. But the limits of wound care behaviours remain unclear. Here we investigated the wound care behaviours of the ant Camponotus maculatus. Our findings show that amputation of legs infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa significantly reduced mortality....
Fujimoto, S.
•
Oviedo, J. J. L.
•
Seibel, F.
•
Puille, L.
...•
Frank, E. T.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
High environmental temperatures put nest excavation by ants on fast forward: they dig the same nests, faster.
Environmental temperature influences the physiology and the behaviour of ectothermic organisms, including ants. However, the complex collective behaviour exhibited by ant colonies means that it is difficult to predict how the effects of temperature translate to colony-level functioning and features, such as the form of their nests. This study aims to determine the effects of environmental temperat...
Rathery, A.
•
Facchini, G.
•
Halsey, L.
•
Perna, A.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Allocentric and egocentric cues constitute an internal reference frame for real-world visual search
Visual search in natural environments involves numerous objects, each composed of countless features. Despite this complexity, our brain efficiently locates targets. Here, we propose that the brain combines multiple reference cues to form an internal reference frame that facilitates real-world visual search. Objects in natural scenes often appear in orientations perceived as upright, enabling quic...
Chen, Y.
•
Xu, Z.-X.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
A technical semi-field methodology to measure the effect of nutrition on honeybee brood rearing
A honeybee colony\'s well-being is its ability to nurture larvae into healthy adults. Understanding how nutrition supports brood rearing is crucial for developing diets that could aid against environmental threats. Nutritional research on whole colony brood development has been historically challenging due to difficulties documenting the diet\'s impact on brood production over time. We describe a ...
Goncalves, R. F. d. S.
•
De Sousa, R. T.
•
Stabler, D.
•
Pinto, D. M. S.
...•
Shafir, S.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Visual exploration drives Hippocampal SWR rates during 3D spatial navigation in the freely moving marmoset
Sharp wave ripples (SWRs) are synchronous neurophysiological events in the hippocampus (HPC) linked to memory encoding, consolidation, and recall. In freely moving rodents, SWRs typically occur during brief pauses in locomotion when animals halt to explore their surroundings. Whether this is also the case in primates remains unknown. Here, we hypothesize that during spatial navigation in freely mo...
Otero, C. A.
•
Piza, D. B.
•
Martinez-Trujillo, J.
•
Diaz, J. R.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Linking host personality and parasitic infection: a meta-analysis
Animal personality and parasite infections are key forces shaping the ecology and evolution of natural populations. Personality traits, such as activity, exploration, and boldness, shape how individuals interact with their environment and conspecifics, influencing both their exposure and susceptibility to parasite infection. In turn, parasites can impact host fitness and energy allocation, and may...
Piscitelli, A. P.
•
Messina, S.
•
Wauters, L. A.
•
Santicchia, F.
...•
Vanden Broecke, B.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Group size and social interactions' strength determine collective response to perturbation in a model of burst-and-coast swimming fish
Collective responses to localized perturbations are essential for the adaptability of animal groups. Using a biologically grounded computational model of burst-and-coast swimming in Hemigrammus rhodostomus, we investigate how group size and the strength of social interactions shape collective dynamics under perturbation. The model integrates experimentally derived attraction and alignment rules, b...
Lin, G.
•
Escobedo, R.
•
Han, Z.
•
Sire, C.
•
Theraulaz, G.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Begging costs rather than food received cause brood size effect on growth in zebra finches
Altricial species rely on parental provisioning for early-life sustenance, and a larger brood size leads to higher levels of competition between siblings for food provided by the parents. Early-life stress can have severe and lifelong effects on Darwinian fitness. Indeed, it is well established that being reared in a larger brood impairs growth and fitness prospects of birds, but the mechanistic u...
Tangili, M.
•
Briga, M.
•
Verhulst, S.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Maternal rejecting of newborns is epigenetic, intergenerationally transmitted and associated with altered miRNAs expression in owl monkeys.
Spontaneous maternal rejection of offspring is a considered a behavioural pathology affecting human and non-human primates, often with lethal consequences for newborns, yet it is widespread and pervasive across taxa, induced by stress or stress vulnerability. In some species, events of rejection can trigger chains of rejection which replicate themselves through generations. In this study we hypoth...
Farinha, J.
•
Clausi-Marroquin, M.
•
Mein, C. A.
•
Sanchez-Perea, N.
...•
Paredes, U.
biorxiv
Thu Jul 03 2025
Exploring the association between stress-related hormonal changes, behaviours and facial movements after a trotting exercise in French Standardbred
Physical exercise can act as a physiological and a mental stressor. Monitoring exercise-induced stress is therefore essential to understand racehorses responses to effort and ensuring their welfare. Stress perceived by the horse during physical activity can be measured using various indicators, including stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, and other neuromodulators such as ser...
HENNES, N.
•
Lansade, L.
•
Ruet, A.
•
Lea, T.
...•
Duluard, A.