Description of sequence types.

Intraspecies aggression has profound ecological and evolutionary consequences, as recipients can suffer injuries, decreases in fitness, and become outcasts from social groups. Although animals implement diverse strategies to avoid hostile confrontations, the extent to which social influences affect escape tactics is unclear. Here, we used computational and machine-learning approaches to analyze complex behavioral interactions as mixed-sex groups of mice, Mus musculus, freely interacted. Mice displayed a rich repertoire of behaviors marked by changes in behavioral state, aggressive encounters, and mixed-sex interactions. A distinctive behavioral sequence consistently occurred after aggressive encounters, where males in submissive states quickly approached and transiently interacted with females immediately before the aggressor engaged with the same female. The behavioral sequences were also associated with substantially fewer physical altercations. Furthermore, the male’s behavioral state could be predicted by distinct features of the behavioral sequence, such as kinematics and the latency to and duration of male–female interactions. More broadly, our work revealed an ethologically relevant escape strategy influenced by the presence of females that may serve as a mechanism for de-escalating social conflict and preventing consequential reductions in fitness.

种内攻击（Intraspecies aggression）会对生态与演化过程产生深远影响：受攻击者可能遭受损伤、适合度（fitness）下降，甚至被社交群体驱逐。尽管动物演化出多种策略以规避敌对冲突，但社交因素对逃跑策略的影响程度仍有待阐明。本研究借助计算与机器学习方法，分析了雌雄混合群体小家鼠（Mus musculus）自由互动时的复杂行为互动过程。小鼠展现出丰富的行为谱，其特征涵盖行为状态切换、敌对遭遇以及雌雄互动等类型。敌对遭遇发生后，总会出现一段特征鲜明的行为序列：处于顺从状态的雄性会快速靠近雌性，并在攻击者接触同一只雌性前，与该雌性进行短暂互动。这类行为序列还与显著减少的肢体冲突相关联。此外，通过行为序列的独特特征——如运动学（kinematics）参数、雌雄互动的潜伏期与持续时长——可预测雄性的行为状态。从更广泛的视角来看，本研究揭示了一种受雌性存在影响、与动物行为学相关的逃跑策略，该策略或可作为社交冲突降级、避免适合度出现有害下降的机制。