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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Recording Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalizations to Evaluate Social Communication
Published on: June 5, 2016
Infant rodent ultrasounds -- a gate to the understanding of sound communication
1Department of Neurobiology, University of Ulm, D-89069, Ulm, Germany. guenter.ehret@biologie.uni-ulm.de
Insights
Rodent pups emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) when distressed, prompting adult rodents to locate and retrieve them. These USVs are crucial for pup-caring behaviors and understanding behavioral control mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Ethology
- Neuroscience
- Animal Communication
Background:
- Infant rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) when separated from their mother or littermates.
- These USVs are triggered by changes in body temperature, social contact, handling, and smell, influencing arousal and emotional states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the communication system between infant and adult rodents using USVs.
- To describe the acoustic properties of USVs and their role in adult rodent phonotaxis.
- To explore how USVs modulate pup-caring instincts and can be used to study behavioral control.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) emitted by infant rodents.
- Description of acoustic properties in frequency and time domains.
- Investigation of adult rodent phonotaxis and retrieval behaviors.
Main Results:
- USVs signal distress and modulate adult rodent arousal and approach behavior (phonotaxis).
- Acoustic properties of USVs enable adults to discriminate and approach the vocalizing pup.
- Phonotaxis is influenced by receiver's emotional state, sex, hormones, and neural systems.
Conclusions:
- USVs form a critical component of the infant-adult rodent communication system, driving pup retrieval.
- The study highlights USVs as a tool for investigating genetic and neural mechanisms underlying behavioral control.
- Understanding USV communication provides insights into the appetitive and consummatory aspects of parental care instincts.
Abstract:
Components of the communication system between infant and adult rodents based on ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of infants are analyzed. USVs are most often emitted from a pup lost outside the nest in response to changes of: (i) body temperature, (ii) contact with adults/littermates, (iii) handling, and (iv) smell. These changes modulate the state of arousal and the emotional/motivational states and, as a result, USVs are produced. Acoustic properties of USVs seem to reflect the degrees of changes in arousal and emotion/motivation. Adult rodents are aroused by perceiving the USVs, locate the sender and show a phonotaxic approach to the sender. Acoustic properties of USVs in the frequency and time domains are described based on which adult rodents discriminate the USVs from other ultrasounds and take the USVs or adequate models of them as preferred goals of their phonotaxic approach. The preferred approach to adequate USVs is modulated by emotions/motivations, the sex of the receiver, hormonal states, experience with pups and neurotransmitter systems of the brain. The phonotaxis can be understood as the appetitive component of a pup-caring instinct. The consummatory act of the instinct is the retrieval of the lost pup. This retrieval is independent of USV presence, but it closes the communication loop activated by the emission of USVs. Communication with USVs can be used as a tool to investigate genetic and brain mechanisms of behavioral control.
