Reactions of Mongolian gerbils in the presence of urine stimuli

Forty sexually mature Mongolian gerbils served as subjects in a study designed to examine responsiveness to samples of urine. In a two-choice comparison situation in the home cage, each isolated gerbil was tested for amount of time spent with each urine sample during a 3-min period. Male gerbils spent significantly more time with estrus female urine than nonestrus female gerbil urine, and with nonestrus female gerbil urine than with either male gerbil urine or water. Female gerbils did not respond differentially to any of the stimuli. Neither sex discriminated between gerbil and hamster urine of either sex. Results suggest that female gerbil urine communicates sexual identity and, especially, sexual readiness to the male gerbil.