INFLUENCE OF DOMINANCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLAY FIGHTING IN PAIRS OF MALE SYRIAN GOLDEN-HAMSTERS (MESOCRICETUS-AURATUS)

In the highly social rat, male juvenile and adult subordinates initiat e more playful contacts with dominant pairmates than vice versa. This study examined the effect of dominance on playful contacts in the rela tively asocial golden hamster. Pairs of male hamsters were reared toge ther from weaning, and their play was filmed in the juvenile (28-36 da ys) and the young adult (60-70 days) stages of development. By the adu lt stage, it became clear that one pairmate was dominant over the othe r. The dominant pairmate launched all aggressive attacks (i.e., bites to the lower flanks and rump), and the subordinate pairmate performed all the submissive gesturing (e.g., tail up submissive posture). Playf ul contact, which in this species involves gentle nibbling of the post erior cheeks, was more frequently launched by the dominant than by the subordinate. This was not only true at the adult stage, but also at t he juvenile stage, before dominance-subordination relationships were s harply polarized. Therefore, it would appear that in the relatively as ocial hamster, the subordinates tend to avoid playful contact with dom inants. This is markedly different to rats, where the subordinates act ively seek out and engage dominants in play. This contrast further sup ports our hypothesis that subordinate male rats use play as a means of maintaining familiarity with dominants. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.