Adult house mouse (Mus musculus) ultrasonic calls: hormonal and pheromonal regulation
Abstract An adult male house mouse typically begins calling at ultrasonic frequencies when presented with either a female mouse or her odors. Although direct experimental evidence has been difficult to obtain, ethological, genetic, endocrine, neurological, sound-spectrographic and perceptual findings all indirectly support male calling conveying important information to the female during sexual encounters. Since male calls correlate with the male's immediate sexual arousal and are also attractive to the female, these calls could help coordinate aspects of a mating bout. As might be expected of a reproductive behavior, male calling is hormonally and pheromonally regulated, similarly to other aspects of male reproductive physiology and behavior. Evidence is reviewed that androgen exerts a permissive activational effect during adulthood through its actions in the same brain area (the medial preoptic area) that regulates male-typical copulatory behavior. This activational effect also accounts for the sex difference in mouse calling. Evidence is also reviewed that male calling is pheromonally elicited by chemosignals in female urine.