The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal BehaviorYerkes, Robert Mearns
Science
The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior
Yerkes, Robert Mearns
Animal behavior; Dancing mice
A course of development very similar to that just described was observed
by Alexander and Kreidl (3 p. 565) in three litters of dancing mice which
contained 3, 5, and 7 individuals respectively. These authors, in
comparing the development of the dancer with that of the common mouse, say
that at birth the young in both cases are about 24 mm. in length. The
young common mouse grows much more rapidly than the dancer, and by the
ninth day its length is about 43 mm. as compared with 31 mm. in the case
of the dancer. According to Zoth (31 p. 148) the adult dancer has a body
length of from 7 to 7.5 cm., a length from tip of nose to tip of tail of
from 12 to 13 cm., and a weight of about 18 grams. The movement of the
dancer from the first tends to take the form of circles toward the middle
of the nest; that of the common mouse has no definite tendency as to
direction. When the common mouse does move in circles, it goes first in
one direction, then in the other, and not for any considerable period in
one direction as does the true dancer. Neither the young dancer nor the
common mouse is able to equilibrate itself well for the first few days
after birth, but the latter can follow a narrow path with far greater
accuracy and steadiness than the former. The uncertain and irregular
movements of the common mouse are due to muscular weakness and to
blindness, but the bizarre movements of the young dancer seem to demand
some additional facts as an explanation.
A brief account of the development of the dancer given by Zoth (31 p. 149)
adds nothing of importance to the description given by Alexander and
Kreidl. As my own observations disagree with their accounts in certain
respects, I shall now give, in the form of a diary, a description of the
important changes observed from day to day in a normal litter. The litter
which I have selected as typical of the course of development in the
dancer grew rapidly under favorable conditions. I have observed many
litters which passed through the various stages of development mentioned
in this description anywhere from a day to a week later. This was usually
due to some such obviously unfavorable condition as too little food or
slight digestive or bowel troubles. According to the nature of the
conditions of growth the eyes of the dancer open anywhere from the
fourteenth to the twentieth day. This statement may serve to indicate the
degree of variability as to the time at which a given stage of development
is reached by different litters.
On July 14, 1906, No. 151 (female) and No. 152 (male) were mated, and on
August 3 a litter of six was born to them. The course of the development
of this litter during the first three weeks was as follows:--
_First day_ The skin is pink and hairless, several vibrissae are visible
on the nose and lips, but there is no definite response when they are
touched. The mice are both blind and deaf, but they are able to squeak
vigorously. The mother was not seen to dance or eat during the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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