Exploration and Movement Patterns of the Canyon Mouse Peromyscus Crinitus in an Extensive Laboratory Enclosure
1965
Brant, Daniel H. | Kavanau, J Lee
In a laboratory enclosure in which individual canyon mice Peromyscus crinitus had continuous access to complex, extensive, burrow—simulating mazes for several days, the spontaneous movement patterns were similar to the known movement patterns of Permyscus in the wild. Since establishing and engaging in these movement patterns appear to be self—rewarding activities, they are assumed to be the expression of inherited tendencies to explore and to develop wide—ranging adapted locomotor activity, including the establishment of home ranges. When the animals ran an activity wheel, their exploration of new regions ceased and their retraversal of familiar regions decreased. These findings suggest that a dynamic balance between exploration and general activity determines the size of the movement patterns, and that the altering of environmental variables in extensive enclosures can be used to determine the extent to which each variable influences the movement patterns.
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