The social environment of animals can have profound implications on their behaviour and physiology. Naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) are highly social with complex dominance hierarchies that influence both stress- and reproduction-related hormones. Homeostasis may be affected by aggressive interactions, colony instability and social isolation. Furthermore, naked mole-rat colonies are characterised by a marked reproductive skew; a single female and few males are reproductively active while other colony members are reproductively suppressed. Thus, there are distinct differences in related hormone concentrations between reproductively active and non-active animals; however, this changes when non-reproductive individuals are removed from the colony. We investigated the effects of social isolation and colony disruption on plasma cortisol and progesterone concentrations in non-breeding naked mole-rats. During colony disruption, we found a significant increase in cortisol concentrations in females removed from the colony for social isolation (experimental) as well as in females that remained in the colony (control). Cortisol concentrations were reduced in both groups after experimental animals were paired up. No changes in cortisol concentrations were observed in control or experimental males after removal from the colony or pairing. This suggests that the females, but not the males, found colony disruption and social isolation stressful. Upon removal from the colony, both control and experimental females showed a small increase in progesterone, which returned to basal levels again in the control animals. Experimental females showed a dramatic spike in progesterone when they were paired with males, indicating reproductive activation. The sex difference in the stress responses may be due to the stronger reproductive suppression imposed on females, or the increased likelihood of dispersal for males. It is clear that the social environment reflects on the endocrine correlates of animals living in a colony, and that the colony structure may affect the sensitivity of the animals to changes in their environment.

动物的社会环境可能对其行为和生理产生深远影响。裸mole鼠（Heterocephalus glaber）具有高度的社交性，具有复杂的主导等级，影响压力和生殖相关激素。稳态可能会受到攻击性相互作用，菌落不稳定和社会孤立的影响。此外，裸露的mole鼠群落具有明显的生殖偏斜。一个雌性和几个雄性具有生殖活性，而其他殖民地成员则受到生殖抑制。因此，在生殖活动和非活动动物之间，相关激素浓度存在明显差异。但是，当非生殖个体从菌落中移出时，情况会发生变化。我们调查了社会隔离和菌落破坏对非繁殖裸mole鼠血浆血浆皮质醇和孕酮浓度的影响。在殖民地破坏期间 我们发现从殖民地移出以进行社会隔离的女性（实验性）以及留在殖民地的女性（对照）的皮质醇浓度显着增加。实验动物配对后，两组的皮质醇浓度均降低。从菌落或配对中除去后，在对照或实验雄性中未观察到皮质醇浓度的变化。这表明女性而不是男性发现殖民地破坏和社会隔离压力很大。从集落中移出后，对照雌性和实验雌性均显示出孕酮的少量增加，在对照动物中黄体酮又恢复到基础水平。实验中的雌性与雄性配对时，孕酮急剧增加，表明生殖活动。压力反应中的性别差异可能是由于对女性施加的较强的生殖抑制作用，或男性分散的可能性增加。显然，社会环境反映了生活在一个殖民地中的动物的内分泌相关性，而且殖民地的结构可能会影响动物对环境变化的敏感性。