BaaaaL
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello everyone!
Recently, (after spending a night sleepless every 2 weeks or so) I started wondering about the possible reasons for chirping (bird sounds) in guinea pigs. As is well-known, only a relatively small subset of all GPs produce this sound, and it always seem to occur at night. However, the only research I was able to dig up about the subject seems to conclude that there are no consistent behavioral patterns associated with chirping. As I am a social scientist by profession, with adequate background in inferential statistics, I decided to run a little pilot study. First, some background:
We have two piggies, the older and bigger always chirps when she is in heat, like clockwork, every 14-16 days. The smaller never chirps, granted, her cycles are not as well-noticeable. I have read somewhere, that some people claim chirping serves the purpose of reestablishing contact with lost herdmates, which seems to be supported by claims that some pigs may start chirping after the loss of a cagemate. My hypothesis is that chirping develops in piggies that were, early in their life, but after reaching sexual maturity, kept together with pigs from the opposite sex. Obviously, this need not be the case 100% of the time, but it is as good a working hypothesis as any. To support or refute this, I would like you guys to post the following data about your piggies:
-Gender
-Age
-Chirps (yes/no)
-If yes, is there a pattern? (at night, during ovulation, etc.)
-Is he/she neutered/splayed?
-How many other piggies is he/she currently together with?
-What is their gender?
-Was he/she at any point kept together with pigs from the opposite sex after reaching maturity? (yes/no/no idea)
Once I gather enough data, I'm planning to run a binary logistic regression to see whether any factors significantly influence the likelihood of a piggie chirping. It is not an extremely well-designed experiment, and relies on self-report data, which I dislike, but it is as good a start as any. Obviously, I am going to share the results here
Thanks!
Recently, (after spending a night sleepless every 2 weeks or so) I started wondering about the possible reasons for chirping (bird sounds) in guinea pigs. As is well-known, only a relatively small subset of all GPs produce this sound, and it always seem to occur at night. However, the only research I was able to dig up about the subject seems to conclude that there are no consistent behavioral patterns associated with chirping. As I am a social scientist by profession, with adequate background in inferential statistics, I decided to run a little pilot study. First, some background:
We have two piggies, the older and bigger always chirps when she is in heat, like clockwork, every 14-16 days. The smaller never chirps, granted, her cycles are not as well-noticeable. I have read somewhere, that some people claim chirping serves the purpose of reestablishing contact with lost herdmates, which seems to be supported by claims that some pigs may start chirping after the loss of a cagemate. My hypothesis is that chirping develops in piggies that were, early in their life, but after reaching sexual maturity, kept together with pigs from the opposite sex. Obviously, this need not be the case 100% of the time, but it is as good a working hypothesis as any. To support or refute this, I would like you guys to post the following data about your piggies:
-Gender
-Age
-Chirps (yes/no)
-If yes, is there a pattern? (at night, during ovulation, etc.)
-Is he/she neutered/splayed?
-How many other piggies is he/she currently together with?
-What is their gender?
-Was he/she at any point kept together with pigs from the opposite sex after reaching maturity? (yes/no/no idea)
Once I gather enough data, I'm planning to run a binary logistic regression to see whether any factors significantly influence the likelihood of a piggie chirping. It is not an extremely well-designed experiment, and relies on self-report data, which I dislike, but it is as good a start as any. Obviously, I am going to share the results here
Thanks!
