Ecological and Behavioural Comparisons of Three Genera of Argentine Cavies

Male-female associations in the domestic guinea pig

“…Previous observational studies concur in the observation that a dominance order is formed among adult males when two or more are housed together King, 1956;Kunkel & Kunkel, 1964;Rood, 1969Rood, , 1972. The absence of clearclear-cut rank-order relationships among domestic guinea pig females has been noted in these papers, but Rood (1969Rood ( , 1972 indicates that female rank orders are formed by the wild Cavia aperea.…”

“…Decided encounters were classed as threats, chases (including chase-bites), bites (without chase), or avoids according to the behavior displayed by the winning animal. Standoffs were stand-threat (Rood, 1972) bouts which were not followed by a threat, chase, or bite delivered by one of the principals. The classes and behaviors are described in detail by Jacobs (1973).…”

“…The absence of clearclear-cut rank-order relationships among domestic guinea pig females has been noted in these papers, but Rood (1969Rood ( , 1972 indicates that female rank orders are formed by the wild Cavia aperea. Guarding of receptive females by alpha males and instances of the alpha male's inability to completely eliminate copulating by other males have been noted (Kunkel & Kunkel, 1964;Rood, 1972). Rood shows, however, that the alpha male is usually the first to copulate with the female he has guarded, and is sometimes the only male to do so.…”

“…Rood shows, however, that the alpha male is usually the first to copulate with the female he has guarded, and is sometimes the only male to do so. Gilmore, (1952) suggested that wild cavy males-might collect females in harems, but Rood (1972) concluded that matings are promiscuous and that permanent social bonds are not formed.…”

“…Males who court nonreceptive females have been thought to be either (1) searching for receptive females by trial and error (Avery, 1925;Loeb & Lathrop, 1914;Louttit, 1927), or (2) inexperienced and low-ranked animals, that in time or with a better social situation would restrict their attentions to receptive females (King, 1956;Kunkel & Kunkel, 1964). Recent reports have suggested that the number of courtship bouts performed by males in a group is positively correlated with the position in the dominance order Rood, 1972). This paper presents a detailed report of long-term, daily quantitative observations of the social behavior of domestic guinea pigs in heterosexual groups.…”