MODIFICATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ADAPTATION IN THE LONG-TERM CONSTANCY OF REARING ENVIRONMENT

本研究是比较心理学对行为适应过程的一种新颖的研究方法。在本研究中，我们采集了麝香鼩（Suncus murinus）野生种群的活体样本，并对其进行了世代繁殖。经过多次驯化，早期驯化已顺利进行。因此，我们准备对动物进行几代的跟踪研究，以便弄清驯化对行为的影响。我们已经为长期的研究项目开了一个良好的开端，因为繁殖初期的成败将在很大程度上决定这项研究的结果。虽然行为分析的数据量不够大，但驯化早期的鼩鼱往往表现出与驯化高级代不同的一些特征。

This study is an original approach to the process of behavioral adaptation from comparative psychology. In the study, we collected live samples from wild population of the house musk shrew (Suncus murinus) and introduced to breed them for generations. After repeated trail of domestication, early stage of domestication has been proceeding successfully. Therefore, we are ready to follow up animals for generations so that the behavioral effects of domestication could be made clear. We have made a good start for long-run research project, since success or failure of the initial stage of breeding would mostly determine the outcome of this study. Although data size for behavioral analysis is not large enough, shrews of the early stage of domestication tended to show some characteristics which differed from those of advanced generations in domestication.