Brain and body growth and allometry in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)

A new four-parameter version of Pütter's curve (Pütter, 1920), recently developed by Jolicoeur and Pirlot (1988), is applied to cross-sectional data on brain and body growth in 127 male and 136 female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) ranging from birth up to approximately 2 years in postnatal age. The physical development of the gerbil is more rapid than that of the white rat and of the domestic rabbit even though its behavioral development is known to be somewhat slower. Like other recent studies on rats, rabbits and humans, the present analysis indicates that complex allometry (curvature of log-log relationships) is more widespread in the quantitative development of mammals than generally realized.