Development of vocalization and hearing in American mink (Neovison vison)

Fostering as a conservation breeding tool: Lessons from three case studies in the critically endangered European mink (Mustela lutreola)

In conservation breeding programs offspring may become orphaned or require additional care to survive. Fostering represents a potential intervention to avoid the behavioral and physiological problems caused by human hand-rearing. We report five fostering events following the maternal loss of three litters (total of ten kits) in the critically endangered European mink. In two of these cases, we analyzed the dams' and kits' behavior during the first week after the fostering event and recorded the kits' weight. Three fostering events were successful, with foster kits surviving until weaning age; two were unsuccessful, possibly due to the age and developmental stage difference between foster and biological kits. Behaviorally, dams appeared to care for all kits equally, without differences observed in average maternal behaviors or aggression between dams and kits, or among kits. Despite the weight being difference between foster and biological kits, we have verified that fostering can be successful in this species. Future fostering attempts should complement behavioral observations with physiological parameters to assess effects on growth and survival and match foster kits with similarly aged litters to maximize chances of acceptance.

Development of hearing in the big brown bat

We studied the development of hearing in newborn pups of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus. In the majority of pups, the opening of both outer auditory canals occurred on or before postnatal day (PND) 7, but in some, it extended to PND 11. Using repeated auditory brainstem response (ABR) recordings, we tracked the progressive development and maturation of auditory sensitivity in 22 E. fuscus pups every 3 days, from PND 10 to PND 31, with additional recordings in a subset of bats at 2 months, 3 months and 1 year of life. There was a profound increase in auditory sensitivity across development for frequencies between 4 and 100 kHz, with the largest threshold shifts occurring early in development between PND 10 and 19. Prior to PND 13-16 and when pups were still non-volant, most bats were unable to hear frequencies above 48 kHz; however, sensitivity to these higher ultrasonic frequencies increased with age. Notably, this change occurred near the age when young bats started learning how to fly and echolocate.

Ontogeny of auditory brainstem responses in the bat, Phyllostomus discolor

Hearing is the primary sensory modality in bats, but its development is poorly studied. For newborns, hearing appears essential in maintaining contact with their mothers and to develop echolocation abilities. Here we measured auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to clicks and narrowband tone pips covering a large frequency range (5-90 kHz) in juveniles (p7 to p200) and adults of the bat, Phyllostomus discolor. Tone-pip audiograms show that juveniles at p7 are already quite responsive, not only below 20 kHz but up to 90 kHz. Hearing sensitivity increases further until about p14 and is then refined, possibly correlated with growth and differentiation of the animals' outer ears. ABR amplitudes decrease within the first 3-4 months, inversely correlated with the bat weight and forearm length. ABR Wave I latency decreases with increasing stimulation level. ABR duration (measured between Waves I and V) is longer in juveniles and shortens with age which may reflect temporal refinement of auditory brainstem neurons to accommodate the exceptional temporal precision required for effective echolocation. Overall our data show that P. discolor bats have good hearing very early in life. The current method represents a fast and minimally invasive way of characterizing basic hearing in bats.

The Masked ABR (mABR): a New Measurement Method for the Auditory Brainstem Response

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) is relatively non-invasive, and in many species, the only practical way to assess auditory sensitivity. The two main methods for measuring ABR are using either transients or tone bursts as a stimulus. The transient stimulus produces strong neural responses that contain no frequency information. In contrast, tone bursts stimulate only a small part of the auditory system, eliciting weaker neural responses but supplying frequency information. Furthermore, short tone bursts become less and less frequency specific with increasing stimulus wavelength, making them unsuitable for testing low-frequency hearing. Here, we develop a method that can measure sensitivity to both low and high-frequency stimuli. The method is based on masking of a transient response by long-duration sinusoids. The measurement system is developed as a highly portable system that runs on battery power. It has been used in a variety of animals in our lab and in the field, including squid (Mooney et al. in J Exp Biol 213: 3748-3759, 2010), lungfish (Christensen-Dalsgaard et al. in J Neurophys 105: 1992-2004, 2011b), alligators (Bierman et al. in J Exp Biol 217: 1094-1107, 2014), and mink (Brandt et al. in J Exp Biol 216: 3542-3550, 2013). Here, we present data recorded from Tokay geckos and compare the results with tone burst ABR measurements. This method produces results comparable to tone burst stimulations at higher frequencies (above 1 kHz) but has several advantages: it is relatively insensitive to fluctuations in neural signal level, it allows measurements at very low frequencies, it allows constant monitoring of the state of the animal, and can be used to measure directional hearing.

Audiograms of three subterranean rodent species (genus Fukomys) determined by auditory brainstem responses reveal extremely poor high-frequency hearing

Life underground has shaped the auditory sense of subterranean mammals, shifting their hearing range to low frequencies. Mole-rats of the genus Fukomys have, however, been suggested to hear at frequencies up to 18.5 kHz, unusually high for a subterranean rodent. We present audiograms of three mole-rat species, Fukomys anselli, Fukomys micklemi and the giant mole-rat Fukomys mechowii, based on evoked auditory brainstem potentials. All species showed low sensitivity and restricted hearing ranges at 60 dB SPL extending from 125 Hz to 4 kHz (5 octaves) with most-sensitive hearing between 0.8 kHz and 1.4 kHz. The high-frequency cut-offs are the lowest found in mammals to date. In contrast to predictions from middle ear morphology, F. mechowii did not show higher sensitivity than F. anselli in the low-frequency range. These data suggest that the hearing range of Fukomys mole-rats is highly restricted to low frequencies and similar to that of other subterranean mammals.

Observations on hippocampal mossy cells in mink (Neovison vison) with special reference to dendrites ascending to the granular and molecular layers

Detailed knowledge about the neural circuitry connecting the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex is necessary to understand how this system contributes to spatial navigation and episodic memory. The two principal cell types of the dentate gyrus, mossy cells and granule cells, are interconnected in a positive feedback loop, by which mossy cells can influence information passing from the entorhinal cortex via granule cells to hippocampal pyramidal cells. Mossy cells, like CA3 pyramidal cells, are characterized by thorny excrescences on their proximal dendrites, postsynaptic to giant terminals of granule cell axons. In addition to disynaptic input from the entorhinal cortex and perforant path via granule cells, mossy cells may also receive monosynaptic input from the perforant path via special dendrites ascending to the molecular layer. We here report qualitative and quantitative descriptions of Golgi-stained hippocampal mossy cells in mink, based on light microscopic observations and three-dimensional reconstructions. The main focus is on the location, branching pattern, and length of dendrites, particularly those ascending to the granular and molecular layers. In mink, the latter dendrites are more numerous than in rat, but fewer than in primates. They form on average 12% (and up to 29%) of the total dendritic length, and appear to cover the terminal fields of both the lateral and medial perforant paths. In further contrast to rat, the main mossy cell dendrites in mink branch more extensively with distal dendrites encroaching upon the CA3 field. The dendritic arbors extend both along and across the septotemporal axis of the dentate gyrus, not conforming to the lamellar pattern of the hippocampus. The findings suggest that the afferent input to the mossy cells becomes more complex in species closer to primates.