Two experiments were conducted in order to examine the necessary conditions for the elicitation of competitive aggression in olfactory bulbectomized male mice. Experiment 1 compared the fighting produced among pairs of bulbectomized males under either food deprivation or ad-lib feeding, with and without the presence of a food-pellet/competition-eliciting stimulus. Animals fought when food-deprived but not when sated. The presence of a food pellet was not necessary for the promotion of aggression. Experiment 2 sought to remove the condition of isolation in pretest housing. However, when bulbectomized males, housed in pairs, were placed upon a food-deprivation schedule, one member was inevitably cannibalized. Identically treated controls died before exhibiting any cases of cannibalism. These findings indicate that the condition of food deprivation is sufficient to reinstate intraspecific aggression in bulbectomized male mice, as well as combine with the effects of bulbectomy to promote normally inhibited cannibalism.
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