COPING WITH NEW SOCIAL SITUATIONS - THE ROLE OF SOCIAL REARING IN GUINEA-PIGS

Six colony (CM) and six individually reared males (IM), aged 7 to 8 mo nths, were singly introduced into unfamiliar colonies of conspecifics for a period of 30 days. CM easily adjusted to the new social situatio n: on the 1st day they explored the new environment but did not court any female thereby avoiding attacks from the male residents. In the co urse of the following days they gradually integrated into the social n etwork of the established colonies and could even gain higher ranking social positions than those which they had had in their natal colonies . On the CM 1st, 3rd, 6th, 10th and 20th day in the new colonies, chan ges could not be determined in either their body weights or in their p lasma concentrations of glucocorticoids, androgens and norepinephrine. In contrast, IM responded to the new situation with substantial decre ases in body weight as well as with extreme increases in plasma glucoc orticoid concentrations. We conclude that CM, in comparison to IM, can integrate well into strange colonies because they acquire appropriate behaviour through rearing in their natal colonies.