Rats and mice share common ethologically relevant parameters of exploratory behavior

Detailed studies of rat exploratory behavior reveal that it consists of typ ical behavior patterns having a distinct structure. Recently we have develo ped interactive software that uses as input the automatically digitized tim e-series of the animal's location for the visualization, analysis, capturin g and quantification of these patterns. We use this software here for the s tudy of BALB/cJtau mouse behavior. The results suggest that a considerable number of rat patterns are also present in the mouse. These ethologically-r elevant patterns have a significant potential as a phenotyping tool. (C) 20 01 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.