Using Frequent Pattern Mining To Identify Behaviors In A Naked Mole Rat Colony

Animal behavior analysis has, in the past, taken a very low tech approach, with direct observer surveillance and automated video surveillance as the norm. These methods are insufficient when one wants to study interactions between large numbers of animals in their housing environment. In this paper we use a housing environment that has been equipped with a system of RFID sensors. RFID transponders were implanted into the study animal, the naked mole rat. The resulting data was analyzed using principal component analysis and frequent pattern mining. Results showed that these methods can identify time periods of high behavioral activity from that of low activity, along with which groups of animals interacted with one another