Bonnie Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote >Thanks - so does that mean that the submissive ones will not groom the >dominant one with saliva? > >
Normally not. Grooming places saliva from the dominant animal. which contains chemical markers, which tells other gerbils, including the marked gerbil, how to behave towards one another. Notice that two adult gerbils, when introduced, will immediately taste one another's saliva. They will do this even if only apart for a few hours. It is a way of saying "Hello - How are you?" If anyone is interested, you should be able to get this book through any inter-library lending scheme - THE GERBIL IN BEHAVIORAL INVESTIGATIONS: MECHANISMS OF TERRITORIALITY AND OLFACTORY COMMUNICATION., Thiessen, D.D., Yahr, P., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977, -- Julian [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Gerbil Society http://www.gerbils.co.uk/
