Allo-Grooming

Allo-grooming is a social behavior (affiliative interaction) that functions to maintain social relationships and assist the animal in obtaining information about food sources.

Allo-grooming is grooming that occurs with two or more mice. Individual grooming follows a specific and thorough sequence, with little variation. In comparison, social grooming is not a thorough whole body cleaning; rather, it is a thorough cleaning that is localized in specific areas of a recipient's body: body trunk, shoulder region and back of head. These also happen to be the areas that are more difficult for an individual mouse to clean by itself.

Affiliative Interactions

Affiliative behaviors are social interactions that function to reinforce social bonds with a group or which are of mutual benefit to all animals involved in the interaction.

There are two forms of allo-grooming, normal and vigorous. These can be distinguished by the intensity of the grooming and the change in posture of the actor and recipent mouse:

1. Allo-grooming - Normal
2. Allo-grooming - Vigorous