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Physiol Behav

Title:		The maternal pheromone of the rat as an innate stimulus for pre-weanling young
Author(s):		Schumacher SK; Moltz H;
Address:
Journal Title:		Physiol Behav
Year:		1982
Volume:		28
Issue:		1
Page Number:		67 - 71
DOI:		10.1016/0031-9384(82)90104-4
ISSN/ISBN:		0031-9384 (Print) 0031-9384 (Linking)
Abstract:		"We undertook to determine whether previous exposure in the nest is necessary to establish the attractiveness of the maternal pheromone or whether that attractiveness is innately based. In Experiment I we showed that the pheromone is a prepotent stimulus insofar as it is approached in preference to a different but equally familiar odor. Experiment 2 demonstrated that when pups are denied previous exposure to the pheromone they nonetheless approach the pheromone preferentially in a choice test involving a pheromone-emitting and a non-pheromone-emitting female. And finally, in Experiment 3, we again used pups that had been isolated from the pheromone. Here, however, the choice was between a pheromone-emitting female and a female which, while non-pheromone-emitting, carried a thoroughly familiar nest odor. The pups decisively chose the pheromone-emitting female. We conclude that pheromonal attractiveness is innately based and suggest that the pheromone itself may have been selected as a signal during the course of evolution"
Keywords:		"Animals Animals, Newborn Choice Behavior/physiology Female *Instinct Male *Maternal Behavior Pheromones/*physiology Pregnancy Rats Rats, Inbred Strains Smell/physiology;"
Notes:		"MedlineSchumacher, S K Moltz, H eng HD-06872/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 1982/01/01 Physiol Behav. 1982 Jan; 28(1):67-71. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(82)90104-4"