The social transmission of food preference (STFP) is a phenomenon that allows rodents to use food information perceived from their conspecifics to guide their own food choices. This social information can be collected via olfactory cues, during direct social interactions, or indirectly, via faeces left in the environment by individuals. Although reducing the risks associated with a social confrontation, faeces also convey different types of information about traits and states of individuals which could affect the indirect STFP. Here, we evaluated in the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, which conspecifics could be good providers of food cues for indirect STFP. Our results indicated that female mice acquire an indirect STFP from faeces of adult females, familiar or not and from faeces of adult unfamiliar males. On the contrary, males do not establish an indirect STFP from faeces of males, whether they are familiar or not, nor from those of unfamiliar females. Indirect STFP was however effective in males when the faeces were those of an unfamiliar juvenile male. A prior habituation to the odour of an unfamiliar female allowed the establishment of indirect STFP in males. Conversely, the presence of faeces of another adult male during the presentation of faeces of an accustomed female precluded the acquisition of indirect STFP in males. This study suggested that in the context of the indirect STFP, females prioritize socio-olfactory information relative to food, whereas food cues were not priority information for males. Under these conditions, females appear to be the best vectors for disseminating food information within the population. These results are discussed according to the socio-spatial organization of the species.

中文翻译：

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通过雄性和雌性家鼠的粪便传递食物偏好：谁是食物线索的良好提供者？

食物偏好的社会传播 (STFP) 是一种现象，它允许啮齿动物使用从它们的同类中感知到的食物信息来指导它们自己的食物选择。这种社会信息可以通过嗅觉线索、直接社会互动​​或间接通过个人留在环境中的粪便收集。虽然减少了与社会对抗相关的风险，但粪便也传达了不同类型的关于可能影响间接 STFP 的个体特征和状态的信息。在这里，我们对家鼠进行了评估，家鼠家鼠，这些同种可能是间接 STFP 食物线索的良好提供者。我们的结果表明，雌性小鼠从成年雌性（熟悉与否）的粪便以及不熟悉的成年雄性的粪便中获得间接 STFP。相反，男性不会从男性的粪便中建立间接 STFP，无论他们是否熟悉，也不会从不熟悉的女性的粪便中建立。然而，当粪便是不熟悉的幼年男性的粪便时，间接 STFP 对男性有效。对陌生女性气味的先前习惯允许在男性中建立间接 STFP。相反，在习惯的女性粪便出现期间另一名成年男性的粪便的存在排除了男性间接获得 STFP 的可能性。这项研究表明，在间接 STFP 的背景下，女性优先考虑与食物相关的社会嗅觉信息，而食物线索不是男性的优先信息。在这些条件下，女性似乎是在人群中传播食物信息的最佳载体。