Topic: territorial behavior

Work has shown that the ventrolateral division of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) encodes a generalized state of social threat and is necessary and sufficient for producing both social aggression and avoidance. However, it remains unclear how the selection between aggression and avoidance occurs and how this selection might support the animal's adaptation to its environment.We have shown that neurons in VMHvl that fire in the context of social defeat are reactivated when the animal explores the location where the defeat occurred, even in absence of the aggressor. At the neural population

Mating behavior plays a pivotal role in the survival and perpetuation of animal species. Vasopressin modulates social communication, social investigation, territorial behavior, and aggression, predominantly in males. Recently, knockdown or pharmacological manipulations of the vasopressin system impaired both courtship behaviors and success rates in fish. However, in contrast to its structurally and functionally similar peptide oxytocin, our knowledge of the roles of vasopressin neurons on mating behaviors remains very few and remains further elucidated. Nevertheless, the methodological approac