Mice employ a bait-and-switch escape mechanism to de-escalate social conflict
| Author(s) | Clein, Rachel S. | |
| Author(s) | Warren, Megan R. | |
| Author(s) | Neunuebel, Joshua P. | |
| Date Accessioned | 2024-10-18T19:22:12Z | |
| Date Available | 2024-10-18T19:22:12Z | |
| Publication Date | 2024-10-15 | |
| Description | This article was originally published in PLoS Biology. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002496. © 2024 Clein et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This research was featured in UDaily on 12/13/2024 at: https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2024/december/mouse-mice-bait-switch-behavior-josh-neunuebel/ | |
| Abstract | Intraspecies aggression has profound ecological and evolutionary consequences, as recipients can suffer injuries, decreases in fitness, and become outcasts from social groups. Although animals implement diverse strategies to avoid hostile confrontations, the extent to which social influences affect escape tactics is unclear. Here, we used computational and machine-learning approaches to analyze complex behavioral interactions as mixed-sex groups of mice, Mus musculus, freely interacted. Mice displayed a rich repertoire of behaviors marked by changes in behavioral state, aggressive encounters, and mixed-sex interactions. A distinctive behavioral sequence consistently occurred after aggressive encounters, where males in submissive states quickly approached and transiently interacted with females immediately before the aggressor engaged with the same female. The behavioral sequences were also associated with substantially fewer physical altercations. Furthermore, the male’s behavioral state could be predicted by distinct features of the behavioral sequence, such as kinematics and the latency to and duration of male–female interactions. More broadly, our work revealed an ethologically relevant escape strategy influenced by the presence of females that may serve as a mechanism for de-escalating social conflict and preventing consequential reductions in fitness. | |
| Sponsor | This research was funded by National Institutes of Mental Health (R01MH122752 to JPN), National Institutes of Health (P20GM103653), the University of Delaware Research Foundation (awarded to JPN), and Delaware’s General University Research Program (awarded to JPN). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. | |
| Citation | Clein RS, Warren MR, Neunuebel JP (2024) Mice employ a bait-and-switch escape mechanism to de-escalate social conflict. PLoS Biol 22(10): e3002496. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002496 | |
| ISSN | 1545-7885 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/35273 | |
| Language | en_US | |
| Publisher | PLoS Biology | |
| dc.rights | Attribution 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| Title | Mice employ a bait-and-switch escape mechanism to de-escalate social conflict | |
| Type | Article |
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