Mice raised communally fare better as adults
Nov. 16 (UPI) -- It takes a village to raise a child -- and to raise a mouse. According to a new study, mice raised communally benefit from a competitive advantage as adults. The new research was published this week in the journal Scientific Reports. "Female house mice pursue two flexible social strategies, either raising their offspring in communal or single nests," Stefan Fischer, researcher at the University of Liverpool, said in a news release. "This makes them an ideal model species to study how these different approaches shape future development." The decision to raise mice communally or in a single nest is influenced by a variety of local conditions, including the levels of social competition, but until now, scientists hadn't measured the effects of rearing decisions on adult behav...