Ultrasounds and maternal behavior in the Mongolian gerbil.
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Passive immunization of incubating ring doves with daily injections of sheep anti-chicken vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (cVIP) serum prevented the proliferation of crop sac tissue observed in control doves given nonimmune serum. Daily injections of anti-cVIP serum did not prevent crop sac development in nonbreeding doves simultaneously treated with ovine prolactin. The concentrations of plasma prolactin were significantly depressed in birds given anti-cVIP serum although this effect became progressively less pronounced during the course of the 7- or 14-day treatment periods. Body weights and weights of regressed reproductive organs were unaffected by treatment with anti-cVIP serum and did not differ significantly from control birds. Doves showing a decreased prolactin response to anti-cVIP serum treatment developed an immune response to sheep serum which may have immunoneutralized the administered antibody. Concentrations of plasma LH were not consistently affected by anti-cVIP serum administration and were low throughout the study. The depression in plasma LH normally seen in females after their young hatch was not observed in females treated with anti-cVIP serum. No effect of treatment was observed upon the birds' incubation behavior or in their readiness to feed and brood their young. These results suggest that in the ring dove, VIP is the physiological prolactin-releasing factor responsible for stimulating prolactin secretion and consequently the development of the crop sac, during incubation. They further indicate that increased concentrations of plasma prolactin may not be essential for gonadal regression or the maintenance of full incubation and brooding behavior in ring doves under laboratory conditions.
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We tested postweanling rat young to see if they would continue to respond to the maternal pheromone when pheromone-containing feces were made available in the home cage. We found that they do, and that the consumption of pheromone-containing feces is important for such sustained responsiveness. Nonetheless, interest in the pheromone does not continue past 50 days of age. The possible adaptive significance of the continuation and cessation of pheromonal responsiveness was discussed.
In previous experiments, neonatal rats subjected to atypical Zeitgeber (light and temperature) produce adult animals that present a different reactivity in some test situations. On the other hand, a great body of evidence indicates that physiological and psychological processes, including the maturation of the circadian system, are regulated by maternal behaviour. In order to investigate in which manner the atypical Zeitgeber, mentioned above, influences maternal behaviour, mothers with their young were observed systematically. More precisely, the question was: is the changed reactivity due to the fact that the young experience a situation of classical early privation (e.g., a decrease in social or other sensory stimulation or in nutrition) or is it due to a situation in which only the temporal pattern of the maternal behaviour is modified and thus disturbs the proper development of the circadian system of the young. Results tend to show that the only difference between the experimental and the control group is a modification in the circadian rhythm of several behavioural items. Only one activity (licking of the young) shows a significant difference in the overall mean value but in favour of the experimental group. We would suggest that the modified temporal pattern of the maternal care could be a poor timegiver for the young, in such a way that the development of their circadian rhythms is disturbed. The unusual reactivity in adulthood could depend on this abnormal development of the circadian system and not on a care privation.
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This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the behavior of the Japanese or domestic quail Coturnix japonica. Details are given of the classification, characteristics, domestication and the economic and research potential of the species. Further sections deal with sensation and perception (including taste and smell, vision and hearing), maintenance behavior (including feeding and drinking, dust bathing and thermoregulation), development and aging (including vocalization, filial imprinting, sexual imprinting, fear and avoidance responses, sexual maturation and aging), adult learning (including habituation, instrumental conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning and observational learning), photoperiodism, reproductive behavior (including courtship and mating, hormonal control and ontogeny of sexual differentiation, and male and female sexual behavior), parental behavior (including nest-site selection and nest building, incubation behavior and its hormonal control, and hen-chick relationships), and aggressive behavior and dominance (including agonistic behavior and the hormonal control of aggressive behavior).
In this study we investigated the effects of axon-sparing lesions of the preoptic region on the maternal behavior of postpartum rats. The lesions were produced with the excitotoxic amino acid N-methyl-D,L-aspartic acid (NMA). The first experiment determined that bilateral injections of NMA into the medial preoptic area (MPOA) of fully maternal lactating rats disrupted maternal behavior. In a second experiment, bilateral injections of NMA into the lateral preoptic area and adjoining substantia innominata (LP/SI region) also disrupted maternal behavior. A third experiment, employing horseradish peroxidase histochemistry, provided anatomical evidence that NMA destroys neuronal cell bodies while sparing fibers of passage. These findings were discussed with respect to the view that an MPOA-to-LP/SI-to-ventral tegmental area circuit underlies maternal behavior in the rat.
This study presents evidence supporting the view that preoptic area (POA) projections through the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to lower brainstem regions are important for maternal behavior in postpartum rats. Experiment 1 demonstrated that bilateral coronal knife cuts posterior to the VTA disrupted maternal behavior, and Experiment 2 demonstrated a similar disruption when a unilateral knife cut that severed the lateral connections of the medial POA was paired with a contralateral knife cut posterior to the VTA. In a final anatomical experiment using horseradish peroxidase histochemistry, it was shown that knife cuts posterior to the VTA do sever POA efferents. However, such cuts severed other ascending and descending pathways as well, and these may also be involved in maternal behavior control.
The effects of complete and partial cochlear extirpation at ages 9-11 days posthatch were assessed in 5 nestling budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) to determine if auditory feedback is necessary for the production of nestling vocalizations. Although early deafening had no effect on the production of food-begging calls produced during the first 2 weeks posthatch, deafening did disrupt the expected transition from these early calls to the longer and more complex frequency-modulated, patterned food-begging calls normally appearing 3-4 weeks posthatch. All birds sustaining either complete or partial cochlear extirpation failed to develop stereotyped contact calls around the time of fledging at 5 weeks. These results are consistent with previous research showing that deafened nestlings do not develop normal contact calls (R. J. Dooling, B. F. Gephart, P. H. Price, C. McHale, & S. E. Brauth, 1987) and also indicate that a form of sensorimotor learning is involved in the production of mature, patterned food-begging calls in budgerigars.
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On the basis of a theory for the establishment and increase of altruistic genes in animal populations a relationship was hypothesized to exist in an avian order between clutch averages (which were considered an index of "genetic investment") and prosocial behavior. The order Passeriformes was used, as clutch sizes were found to vary from one to 11 among the species, and the number of caretakers was also found to vary, falling into four categories: female only, female and male, both plus intraspecies helpers, and interspecies altruists. The positive correlations found in this research tend to support this theory.
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