Figure 1
From: Brown rats and house mice eavesdrop on each other’s volatile sex pheromone components
Photographs illustrating (a) the double-set, paired trap box design of an experimental replicate, and (b) details of snap trap, food bait and pheromone lure. Each experimental replicate (n = 157) consisted of two pairs of large trap boxes (placed in rat-infested sites), or two pairs of small trap boxes (placed in mouse-infested sites; not shown in this figure), for capturing rats and mice, respectively, with 0.5-m spacing between the boxes in each pair, and at least 2 m between pairs. Numbers refer to: 1 = trap box; 2 = snap trap with food bait69 for capturing (killing) responding rodents; 3 = filter paper treated with synthetic testosterone (a pheromone component shared by male brown rats and male house mice); 4–6 = a 20-ml glass scintillation vial containing plain mineral oil (4; control stimulus) or mineral oil laced with sex attractant pheromone components of either male house mice (5) or male brown rats (6). Note: the smaller trap boxes for mice (not shown here) were fitted with glass scintillation vials reduced in height (cut to size).
