Competition and cooperation among huddling infant rats

Huddling is expressed by infant rats and continues to be an important behavior throughout adulthood. As a form of behavioral thermoregulation, huddling is thought to play an essential role in compensating for inadequate physiological thermoregulation early in development. Infant rats, however, are capable of heat production shortly after birth using brown adipose tissue (BAT) and exhibit thermogenesis in the huddle, suggesting that huddling does not obviate the need for endothermy during cold exposure. In the present experiment, 4-pup huddles of infant rats (2- or 8-day-olds) were exposed to two subthermoneutral temperatures, and BAT thermogenesis was inhibited in 0, 2, or 4 of the rats in each huddle. Inhibition of BAT thermogenesis compromised the pups' ability to maintain huddle temperature, but surprisingly did not result in enhanced huddling at either age. These results suggest that effective huddling during cold exposure requires the thermal resources provided by endothermy. Furthermore, the heat provided by BAT appears to shape behavioral interactions in the huddle during development.