Ability of 12-hour-old Merino and crossbred lambs to recognise their mothers

Nowak, Raymond; Poindron, Pascal; Neindre, Pierre Le; Putu, I Gede

doi:10.1016/0168-1591(87)90151-1

Cited by 60 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Experimental groups and testing procedure To test the ability of kids to discriminate between their own mother and an alien equivalent one, we used a two-choice test paradigm that had already been used previously with success in lambs and kids (Lickliter and Heron, 1984;Nowak et al, 1987;Addae et al, 2000;Awotwi et al, 2000). Kids were given the choice between their mother and an alien equivalent goat having given birth at about the same time, each mother being placed in one corner of a triangular (experiments 1 and 2, 1st and 2nd year) or rectangular (experiment 3, 2nd year) testing pen.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, work on goats, especially regarding the neonate, is rather scarce and little information is available concerning the establishment of maternal recognition by the newborn kid. In the sheep, the neonate develops a preference for its dam within 12 to 24 h (Nowak et al, 1987;Val-Laillet et al, 2004), initially on the basis of the acceptance behaviours displayed by the mother , followed later by true recognition of her individual physical features. Thus, lambs become able to choose between their mother and an alien dam from a distance of several metres from day 3 of age onwards (Nowak, 1990) and can recognise her bleats (Sè be et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, it is not -E-mail: poindron@tours.inra.fr known whether the hiding behaviour of kids is associated with a later display of discrimination of the dam than in lambs. There is some evidence that kids can show a preference for their mother at 2 days of age (Lickliter and Heron, 1984;Addae et al, 2000) but not earlier, whereas lambs already discriminate their dam at 12 h (Nowak et al, 1987;Terrazas et al, 2002;Val-Laillet et al, 2004). While this difference may be related to the fact that kids hide and lambs do not, it may also depend on other factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this difference may be related to the fact that kids hide and lambs do not, it may also depend on other factors. Thus in sheep, breed is well known to influence the early ability of the mother and of the neonate to recognise each other (Shillito-Walser et al, 1982;Nowak et al, 1987). It cannot be excluded that the same applies in goats, especially since Addae et al (2000) suggested that mothers of the breed they studied had poor learning abilities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Preference of 12-h-old kids for their mother goat is impaired by pre-partum-induced anosmia in the mother

Poindron

Gilling

Hernández

et al. 2007

Animal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated whether kids were able to discriminate their own mother from an alien one in a two-choice test on the day of birth when they had access to acoustic, visual and olfactory cues from their mother, and whether this discrimination depended on the selective maternal behaviour of the mother (i.e. exclusive nursing of own kids). When given the choice between their own mother and an alien equivalent dam, 8-h-old kids did not show a significant preference for their dam, whereas 12-and 24-h-old kids did. When given the choice between their own and an alien mother that were both non-selective because they had been rendered peripherally anosmic by irrigation of the nostrils with zinc sulphate, 12-h-old kids did not show a significant preference for their mother. These results are similar to those reported in sheep and may suggest that the contrast of behaviour between their own and an alien mother existing in normosmic does is important for discrimination of dams by kids at this age. Finally, testing 8-h-old kids in a smaller enclosure resulted in some improvement of their performance, although they still failed to display a significant preference for their mother. On the whole, kids are able to discriminate between their own and an alien mother goat as early as previously reported in lambs. The impairment of this ability when mothers are anosmic and not selective suggests that acceptance behaviours displayed by the mother may serve as one of the cues orientating the choice of the kid when given the choice between intact mothers. Finally, the present results do not suggest the existence of fundamental differences in the establishment of a preference for the mother between lambs, which are followers, and kids, which are hiders.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Preference of 12-h-old kids for their mother goat is impaired by pre-partum-induced anosmia in the mother

Poindron

Gilling

Hernández

et al. 2007

Animal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The strain and breed differences of early behaviour and bonding ability of lambs [71,95,103,104,111,112] suggest a breeding route to improve lamb survival. In Merino sheep divergently selected for multiple rearing ability, the high line lambs were quicker to progress from standing to sucking than the low line [95], and had improved survival.…”

Section: Breed Differences and Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-New-born lambs have limited energy reserves and need a rapid access to colostrum to maintain homeothermy and survive. In addition to energy, colostrum provides immunoglobulins which ensure passive systemic immunity. Therefore, getting early access to the udder is essential for the neonate. The results from the literature reviewed here highlight the importance of the birth site as the location where the mutual bonding between the mother and her young takes place. Attraction to birth fluids by the periparturient ewe leads to intense licking of the lamb. Grooming not only dries, cleans and stimulates the newborn it also facilitates bonding through learning of its individual odour. Ewes having twins should ideally stay on the birth site for at least six hours in order to establish a strong bond with both lambs and favour lambs survival. However, primiparous ewes or ewes having high levels of emotivity are more likely to exhibit poor maternal behaviour. In addition, difficult parturition and weather conditions have an indirect effect on the behaviour of the mother and are other major causes of lamb death. On the lamb's side, rapid access to the udder and early suckling are extremely important. Delayed lactation or insufficient colostrum yield may be fatal especially since suckling has strong rewarding properties in the establishment of a preference for the mother, which in turn increases lamb survival. Insufficient access to the udder in mothers leaving the birth site too soon after parturition, especially in twin-bearing ewes, could also partly account for the high incidence of loss of mother-young contact and subsequent death in such lambs. Strategies to improve neonatal survival should be aimed at maximising lamb vigour, colostrum production, and mutual mother-young bonding through adequate feeding in late pregnancy and selection on behaviour.energy reserve / colostrums / suckling / maternal behaviour / bonding / ewe / lamb / nutrition / survival

show abstract

Twenty‐four‐hour‐old lambs rely more on maternal behavior than on the learning of individual characteristics to discriminate between their own and an alien mother

Terrazas¹,

Nowak²,

Serafín³

et al. 2002

Developmental Psychobiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lambs can discriminate their own mother from an alien dam on the first day of life, suggesting the recognition of individual physical characteristics of the mother. Alternatively, their choice may depend on behavioral differences existing between the ewes because of their maternal selectivity. To clarify this, the ability of 24-hr-old lambs to discriminate between their own and an alien mother, that were either intact and accept only their own lamb at nursing (i.e., selective, n = 19) or anosmic, which nurse indiscriminately alien lambs as well as their own (i.e., nonselective, n = 24), was assessed by a 5-min, two-choice test. With intact dams, lambs spent significantly more time next to their own mother whereas this was not so in the presence of anosmic dams. Furthermore, in the intact group, the vocal activity by their own mother differed from that by the alien dam while this was not so in anosmic ewes. We conclude that 24-hr-old lambs rely more on the behavior of the ewes to select their dam than on their individual physical characteristics.

show abstract

Ability of 12-hour-old Merino and crossbred lambs to recognise their mothers

Cited by 60 publications

References 11 publications

Preference of 12-h-old kids for their mother goat is impaired by pre-partum-induced anosmia in the mother

Preference of 12-h-old kids for their mother goat is impaired by pre-partum-induced anosmia in the mother

From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

Twenty‐four‐hour‐old lambs rely more on maternal behavior than on the learning of individual characteristics to discriminate between their own and an alien mother

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About