Context specific ultrasonic vocalizations in female house mice (Mus musculus domesticus)

Mice (Mus musculus) live in social groups where they frequently interact and cooperate with other conspecifics. It is commonly known that male and female mice can produce complex vocalizations in the ultrasonic range that remind of high-pitched birdsong. The so-called mouse song is mainly used in social interactions. Earlier studies suggest that male mice use their USVs for mate attraction, and that male USVs could be an important signal during female mate-choice. USVs are however not restricted to the mating context, but are also emitted during same-sex interactions. Especially females emit USVs when interacting with another female. Besides their potential role in mate attraction USVs could also be used as signal during hierarchy establishment and familiarization, or for other more general communication purposes. In the present study I investigated the vocal behavior of two partially interacting female mice over an extended time course. I analyzed whether certain USVs features differed depending on certain environmental stimuli or according to the type of social interaction. I found that female mice use two different types of USVs depending on whether they meet, or at least expect to meet another mouse, or whether they encounter urine of another female and deposit their own. Recent findings in male mice support the idea that those two song types could resemble what is known from songbirds as directed and undirected songs. Directed and undirected mouse songs could play different functional roles in mouse communication that will be discussed in the following