Burrowing Behavior
Burrowing Behavior - Related Videos
08:23
Assessing Burrowing, Nest Construction, and Hoarding in Mice
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Cited by 206 •
2012
Burrowing, nesting, and hoarding are species-typical activities that mice readily perform in the laboratory. This article describes how they can be easily and cheaply assessed. These protocols are extremely sensitive to mouse strain, brain lesions and diseases. Moreover they constitute “environmental enrichment” for the mice, and embody the “Refinement” aspect of the “3 Rs”18.
04:41
Drosophila Burrowing and Tunneling Assay: A Method to Assess Tissue Hypoxia in Fly Larvae
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2023
This video shows a method to test hypoxia in Drosophila larvae by assessing their burrowing and tunneling abilities. Using this technique researchers can distinguish larvae experiencing oxygen deprivation from those with developmental deficits. The example protocol demonstrates the setup for this assay.
12:18
Behavioral Phenotyping of Murine Disease Models with the Integrated Behavioral Station (INBEST)
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Cited by 4 •
2015
Prolonged and comprehensive monitoring of mice in a home-cage environment provides a deeper understanding of aberrant behavior in murine models of brain diseases. This paper describes the Integrated Behavioral Station (INBEST) as the key component of contemporary behavioral analysis.
06:11
Nest Building Behavior as an Early Indicator of Behavioral Deficits in Mice
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Cited by 76 •
2019
Here, we present a protocol to quantify nest building behavior in mice, which is known to be impaired in several neurological disorders and diseases. This protocol examines the utility of four materials and offers the opportunity to quantify the rater agreement in scoring, improving the validity and reliability of the assay.
04:55
Group Behavior - Concepts
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2019
Life in a Population Organisms in populations interact with one another in complex ways, where individuals compete for resources such as food, shelter, and mates. These interactions are costly since individuals invest energy to acquire the resource, therefore there are a variety of strategies that organisms adopt to gain an advantage over their competitors. This is observed clearly with polymorphic mating systems, in which one sex, predominantly males, display multiple mating strategies. For...
FAQs
Successful performance depends on coordinating forelimb movements with digging, carrying, and manipulation of the surrounding substrate. These actions must be organized over time so the animal can displace material or use a tunnel persistently. Measuring this coordinated output helps researchers distinguish changes in motor execution from broader alterations in motivated behavior or behavioral organization.
Environmental conditions and sensory cues can alter how readily an animal begins, continues, or completes the task. Consequently, the amount of material displaced or the extent of tunnel use may reflect both the animal’s internal state and the testing context. Keeping these conditions consistent is important when comparing neurological function or treatment effects across groups.
Burrowing behavior engages processes related to reward and motor control, linking the willingness to perform the activity with the ability to execute its movements. A reduction in performance may therefore arise from altered motivation, impaired motor organization, or both. This distinction makes the assay useful for examining how neurological changes affect motivated action rather than movement in isolation.
Common measurements include the amount of substrate displaced, tunnel use, and task persistence. Together, these outcomes capture different aspects of performance: physical manipulation of material, interaction with a shelter or tunnel, and sustained engagement with the task. Considering several measures can provide a broader picture of behavioral change than relying on a single activity score.
An assay provides a rodent with a substrate or tunnel-related task and then records its interaction with that environment. Researchers quantify displaced material, tunnel use, and persistence under defined environmental conditions and sensory cues. Comparing these measurements across experimental groups can reveal changes associated with neurological status, stress, pain, or an intervention.
These assays support studies of stress, pain, and neurodegenerative disease, as well as investigations of pharmacological or genetic interventions. Changes in displacement, tunnel use, or persistence can indicate altered motivated behavior or neurological function. The method is therefore valuable for evaluating whether a disease state or experimental manipulation changes coordinated, goal-directed activity.