EFFECTS OF FOOD-DEPRIVATION ON FIGHTING BEHAVIOR IN STANDARD OPPONENT TESTS BY MALE AND FEMALE TO STRAIN ALBINO MICE

Forty-eight male and forty-eight female 'TO' strain albino mice were used to study the effects of withholding food on fighting behaviour in standard opponent tests (rank-related fighting). Thirty-six hours (but not 12 or 24 h) of food deprivation produced marked deficits in the fighting evidenced by male mice in these tests. These results, taken in conjunction with an earlier finding that food deprivation causes a marked increase in the incidence of locust-killing behaviour in laboratory mice, provides further evidence that one form of interspecific aggression (locust killing by mice) and one form of intraspecific fighting are differently motivated. They may, in fact, have little in common. © 1979.