What is a Singing Mouse?
Singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) is a small, diurnal, insectivorous, highly vocal rodent native to the cloud forests of Central America. As the name suggests, they produce loud, multi-second, rhythmic songs composed of a series of stereotyped notes. They not only sing, but they also sing to each other --- politely! Shown here is one mouse singing in response to the auditory input from a vocal partner, much like a conversation. This is a natural behavior that is robustly expressed even in the lab setting. We can breed them, maintain them in a colony, and they are amenable to a large suite of systems neuroscience techniques. Click here for more details.
Vocal Behaviors of the Singing Mouse
Two singing mice engaged in a fast vocal interaction in the lab.
They can't see each other, or smell each other, or touch each other.
But they can hear each other.
Using automated audio and video tracking, we are testing whether vocalizations are modifiable by experience and social status. The video below is tracked using DANNCE: a 3D tracking software developed by Timothy Dunn and colleagues (Dunn et al 2021)
PAIRId behavioral paradigm:
Two singing mice interacting in close-range through a perforated barrier producing softer ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) and louder songs. Using this paradigm, we are able to assign ~90% of all vocalizations to individual mice.