Female sexual preferences differ in Mus spicilegus and Mus musculus domesticus: the role of familiarization and sexual experience

Mating systems correspond to particular ecological conditions and result fr om proximate interactions between individuals. We compared the mating prefe rences of female mice of two species: the house mouse, Mus musculus domesti cus, and the mound-builder mouse, Mus spicilegus. Because of differences in their habitat, we expected to observe differences in their sexual preferen ces. We studied female preferences for a familiar or an unfamiliar male and the occurrence of copulation with the unfamiliar male, during two states o f female sexual activity: (1) the postpartum oestrus of paired females, to evaluate the stability of their sexual partnership; and (2) the oestrus of females familiarized with a male, to study the mechanisms underlying their sexual preferences. In the polygamous house mouse, postpartum oestrous fema les did not show a clear preference between their familiar male and the unf amiliar one. Moreover, oestrous females, familiarized with a male (without sexual interactions), preferred an unfamiliar male and copulated with him. In contrast, postpartum oestrous females and oestrous females of M. spicile gus preferred their familiar male and rarely copulated with the unfamiliar male. This study indicates a strong pair bond in established breeding pairs in M. spicilegus and shows that this bond can be established by familiariz ation, which is not the case in M. m. domesticus. Our study suggests the ex istence of monogamous traits in M. spicilegus in contrast to the polygamous M. m. domesticus. (C) 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behavio ur.