Sexual Behaviors

In general, the purpose of a sexual interaction is reproduction. In order for copulation to take place, there must first be sexual motivation between mates. Sexual motivation can be seen by posture in the female and by three different maneuvers: crawl-over, crawl-under, and push-past. After sexual motivation is present, the male mouse will explore the potential mate, pursue her, mount her, copulate, and finish with a self post-copulatory grooming session. It is important to note that the female may discontinue the sexual encounter at any point during the male's interaction sequence.

Sexual behavior is a top-level classification, reflecting a behavior chain of individual goal-directed behaviors, which typically occur in the following sequence:

1. Sexual Motivation
2. Sexual Exploring
3. Female Response
4. Sexual Pursuing
5. Copulatory Mounting
6. Copulation
7. Post-Copulatory Groom

General Activity

Reproduction

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