By Stephen Beech via SWNS
Male mice use females as “decoys” to distract aggressive rivals and avoid conflict, suggests new research.
The males will run over to female mice when threatened – using a “bait-and-switch” tactic to distract aggressors, say scientists.
American researchers tracked the behavior of mice using artificial intelligence to understand how they handle aggressive behavior from other mice.
Their findings, published in the journal PLOS Biology, show that male mice de-escalate potentially violent encounters by running over to a female mouse to distract the aggressive male.
The team recorded groups of two male and two female mice interacting over five hours.
Study leader Professor Joshua Neunuebel said that, like many other animals, mice have “social hierarchies” – and in almost every group recorded, one male was always “significantly” more aggressive towards the other.
He explained that social interactions can be “challenging” to study objectively, so the team used a machine learning approach …