Lonely female mice are not attracted to courtship songs

Lonely female mice do not respond to male courtship songs. Only when several female mice are housed together are they attracted to the complex ultrasound sounds of the males, a new study shows.

When kept individually, they even seem to avoid courtship songs, Viennese behavioral researchers report in the journal ‘Plos One’. Even when they were not in estrus, that is, not yet ready to mate, they found the male song more attractive.

Male house mice (Mus musculus musculus) produce complex ultrasonic sounds, especially during courtship and mating. These sounds, called “ultrasonic vocalizations” (USVs), resemble birdsong and are outside the frequency range that humans can hear.

In their research, scientists from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna conducted playback experiments with wild female house mice. The animals could choose between a room where male USVs were played over a loudspeaker and another room with a control recording without these courtship songs.

It turned out that the females were attracted to male USVs when kept with other females. “Females housed individually showed the opposite response and even appeared to avoid male USVs,” said study author Sarah Zala in a statement. The researchers do not know why this is the case, but it could be that the animals are therefore more cautious when approaching an unknown male. They also have no explanation for the fact that females who were not in estrus – the heat in mice – preferred the male courtship song more.

For the researchers, the study results show how seemingly unimportant factors such as social housing and the sexual cycle can influence the behavior of mice. However, such factors are generally not mentioned in scientific articles, the broadcast said “There are concerns that unreported variables could contribute to the ‘replication crisis’ in science,” Study results cannot therefore be confirmed. (saw/sda/apa)