Nest sharing in rodents and other vertebrates is believed to be promoted by the gain of thermoregulatory advantages, reproductive imperatives or to be a by-product of other benefits to group living. Here, we studied the patterns of nest box sharing over a yearly cycle in a wild population of the arboreal, nocturnal and heterothermic woodland dormouse (Graphiurus murinus). We evaluated whether the timing of dormouse aggregations and group composition were compatible with thermoregulatory or reproductive imperatives. Nest box sharing between two or more dormice was observed throughout the year and was not correlated with monthly minimum temperatures. Therefore, the observed aggregations could not be exclusively related to the gain of a thermoregulatory advantage. All-male and all-female aggregations were more frequent during the mating season, following which some females seemed to engage in communal nesting and continued to share nests with some of their offspring well beyond the weaning period. Our data suggest that nest sharing was only partly affected by basic reproductive needs. We hypothesize that dormouse aggregations were ultimately favoured by a high level of intra-sexual tolerance elicited by the presence of numerous kin-related and familiar individuals in the population. This seems to stem from the high inter-individual spatial overlaps and the promiscuous mating system previously reported in this species. Further studies focusing on natural resting sites and genetic relatedness between individuals are needed to confirm our findings and test our hypothesis.

中文翻译：

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林地睡鼠（Graphiurus murinus）的巢箱共享模式：性内耐受性和公共筑巢的证据

啮齿动物和其他脊椎动物的巢穴共享被认为是通过获得体温调节优势、繁殖需求或作为其他群体生活好处的副产品来促进的。在这里，我们研究了树栖、夜间和异温林地睡鼠（Graphiurus murinus）的野生种群在一年周期内共享巢箱的模式。我们评估了睡鼠聚集的时间和群体组成是否符合体温调节或生殖要求。全年观察到两只或更多睡鼠之间共享巢箱，并且与每月最低温度无关。因此，观察到的聚集不能完全与体温调节优势的获得有关。在交配季节，全雄性和全雌性聚集更加频繁，此后，一些雌性似乎参与了公共筑巢，并在断奶期后继续与一些后代共享巢穴。我们的数据表明，巢穴共享仅部分受到基本生殖需求的影响。我们假设，由于种群中存在许多与亲属有关的和熟悉的个体，因此会引起高水平的性内耐受性，最终有利于睡鼠聚集。这似乎源于高度的个体间空间重叠和先前在该物种中报道的混杂交配系统。需要进一步研究自然休息地点和个体之间的遗传相关性，以证实我们的发现并检验我们的假设。