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Although patterns of aggression and affiliation may play a major role in social organization, the mechanisms underlying these behaviors are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social and hormonal experience on female–female aggression and affiliation in prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster. Prairie voles exhibit the traits of social monogamy and tend to live in communal families structured around a male–female pair. It is rare for two unrelated females within a family to successfully reproduce. In this study, the social and/or hormonal experiences of female prairie voles were varied and female–female aggression and affiliation were measured during dyadic encounters with unfamiliar, nonaggressive females. An increase in aggression and decline in affiliative behaviors toward a stimulus female was observed during pregnancy and following male-cohabitation, with or without …