Early life parameters and personality affect oxidative status during adulthood in an altricial rodent.

It is increasingly recognized that alterations of the cellular oxidative status might be an important cost underlying challenging early life conditions. For example, an increased litter size can impose challenges as the offspring will face increased competition for maternal resources. Within a litter, individuals with relatively higher starting mass typically show higher growth rates, which can lead to increased oxidative damage.

Differences between fast and slow explorers in short-term tail temperature responses to handling in a rodent of wild origin.

Animals of different behavioral types typically show associated differences in their physiological stress response, including differential reactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. Infrared thermography offers the possibility to explore this link in a non-invasive way via the quantification of fine-scale changes in peripheral body temperature due to changes in cutaneous blood flow. We used this technique to investigate the association between exploration tendency, a behavioral trait frequently used to phenotype mammals and birds, and short-term thermal responses to challenge in a small rodent of wild origin, the mound-building mouse (Mus spicilegus).