No speed dating please! Patterns of social preference in male and female house mice

Background: In many animal species, interactions between individuals of different sex often occur in the context
of courtship and mating. During these interactions, a specific mating partner can be chosen. By discriminating
potential mates according to specific characteristics, individuals can increase their evolutionary fitness in terms of
reproduction and offspring survival. In this study, we monitored the partner preference behaviour of female and
male wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from populations in Germany (G) and France (F) in a controlled
cage setup for 5 days and six nights. We analysed the effects of individual factors (e.g. population origin and sex)
on the strength of preference (selectivity), as well as dyadic factors (e.g. neutral genetic distance and major
histocompatibility complex (MHC) dissimilarity) that direct partner preferences.
Results: Selectivity was stronger in mice with a pure population background than mixed individuals. Furthermore,
fema...