Table 44. — Colony a: South Alley Burrow, Afiril-May 1949 
Rat’s number 
Place of birth 
Maturity 
index 
May 
weight 
May 
wounds 
Surviving young (56) 
Placental 
scars 
Males: 49 
Area II 
1.00 
548 
26 
Females: 
80 
SAB 
1.07 
568 
7 
Yes 
12 
767 
SAB 
1.40 
438 
2 
Yes 
98 
SAB 
1.80 
472 
5 
Yes 
28 
778 
SAB 
11.60 
390 
2 
No 
15 
676 
SAB 
1.38 
435 
0 
Yes 
7 
689 
SAB 
1.50 
488 
24 
Yes 
700 
SAB 
II. 00 
436 
2 
Yes 
702 
SAB 
II. 00 
435 
0 
Yes 
17 
704 
SAB 
II. 10 
478 
0 
No 
6 
705 
SAB 
11.00 
468 
1 
Yes 
1075 
SAB 
LOO 
402 
5 
Yes 
93 
Area I 
1.33 
493 
0 
Yes 
11 
39 
SAB 
(>) 
Mean 
1.68 
457 
4 
13.7 
1 She is a senescent female too old to breed. 
slowest growth rate of any of their associates. 
Thus, within a single colony reproductive success 
appears to be correlated positively with growth 
rate just as this relationship is indicated with more 
inclusive groupings shown in table 56. The third 
nonreproducing female was No. 39. She was one 
of the mothers of these other females. By May 
1949 she was over 600 days of age and can be 
classified as a senescent, postreproducing rat on 
the basis of sparse pelage and relatively minute 
uterine horns. This inclusion and presumably 
tolerance of an old female suggests a rudimentary 
phenomenon among rats in harmony with the 
ethic of honor thy father and mother. 
Although no males born in 1947 survived to 
May 1949 there were four other females which did. 
Each of these was accepted by the members of a 
local colony. See female 44, colony c, table 46; 
female 37, colony e, table 48; female 43, colony f, 
table 50; female 42, colony g, table 51. 
Colony b: Area I ( table 45). 
Like colony a the majority of this colony were 
also born in the locality of later residence. Thus, 
the colony was not only homogeneous in member- 
ship, but was composed of nonemigrants. One 
situation which may have detracted from the 
stable organization of this group was that there 
were four separate burrows. Two were adjoining 
Boxes 6 and 9, the third was connected to both 
Boxes 2 and 3, and the fourth was by the fence 
opposite Boxes 8 and 9. There was less oppor- 
tunity for these rats to develop mutual tolerances 
and associations, than was true of colony a at the 
more communal South Alley Burrow. A further 
disadvantage experienced by members of colony 
b was that they had to travel farther for food than 
did members of colony a, and in doing so they had 
to pass through Passage 1 , which was so frequently 
defended by male 49, the dominant male of the 
South Alley Burrow. Male 690 protected the four 
females of colony b through his persistent chasing 
away of other males who entered Area I. I believe 
that the presence of the small male 737 in Area I 
resulted from the development by him of such a 
docile behavior as not to elicit aggression by 690. 
Despite the presence of seven wounds, the very 
fact that his pelage was in good condition reflects 
the fact that he had experienced less stress or 
aggressive action. In contrast to him, all members 
of the neighboring all-male colony i had much 
thinner pelage. 
205 
