Maternal Behaviour in Domestic Sheep (Ovis Aries): Constancy and Change With Maternal Experience

Dwyer, Catherine M; Lawrence, A. S. C.

doi:10.1163/156853900501999

Cited by 74 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…In inexperienced mothers, the newborn may be seen as a novel and potentially fearful stimulus leading to initial disturbances in up to 50% of mothers in some instances [54], with more than 20% of primiparous ewes still failing to nurse their young after three hours. However, after mothers have gained maternal experience at their first lambing, they show improved maternal care in their subsequent pregnancies [62].…”

Section: Getting Bonded To the Whole Littermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the amount of grooming behaviour, responses to the lamb's suckling attempts, likelihood of desertion. These differences usually persist over successive births [62] suggesting that they are intrinsic to the individual. One of the most frequently explored sources of maternal behaviour variation is breed differences.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Breed Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many breeds have been compared, and different behavioural measures recorded. The chosen breeds generally reflect the prevalent or commercially important races in the countries where they have been studied: for example, behavioural comparisons between the Merino, Perendale, Romney, Border Leicester, Cheviot, Dorset Horn and crossbreds in Australia and New Zealand [92], between Romanov, Lacaune, Préalpes du Sud, and Île-deFrance in France [47,93] and between Dalesbred, Scottish Blackface, Suffolk and Soay breeds in the UK [62]. Because these studies used a variety of behavioural measures that differed between studies, it is hard to draw any clear conclusions, except when comparing breeds within the same study.…”

Section: Individual Differences and Breed Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

2006

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-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

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Section: Getting Bonded To the Whole Littermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individual Differences and Breed Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Individual Differences and Breed Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

2006

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“…Therefore, these neurobiological differences concern probably other aspects of maternal behavior. They may be related with the more frequent display of maternal disturbances found in primiparous mothers (Dwyer & Lawrence, 2000;Poindron, Raksanyi, Orgeur, & Le Neindre, 1984), the lack of response to VCS in nonpregnant nulliparous ewes or the inability of inexperienced mothers to compensate for the privation of AF olfactory cues or VCS (Lévy & Poindron, 1987;Poindron & Lévy, 1990).…”

Section: Neural Structures and Neurochemical Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal responsiveness and maternal selectivity in domestic sheep and goats: The two facets of maternal attachment

Poindron

Lévy

Keller

2006

Developmental Psychobiology

117

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Sheep and goats rapidly establish an exclusive relationship with their neonate following contact with it during a sensitive period of maternal responsiveness induced by the physiological events occurring at parturition. The data concerning the sensory, physiological, and neurobiological factors involved in the activation of both maternal responsiveness and the establishment of selective nursing indicates that these processes are activated simultaneously by the combined action of two main factors, the prepartum rise in circulating estrogen and the vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) caused by fetus expulsion. On the one hand, these two factors act on a neural network including the main olfactory system (MOB), the medial preoptic area (MPOA), and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) to induce maternal responsiveness towards any neonate. The intracerebral release of oxytocin (OT) from the PVN, and the triggering of olfactory attraction for amniotic fluid (AF) are key elements in this process. On the other hand, VCS at birth also sets the MOB ready to memorize the individual odor of the neonate, through the release of peptides and neurotransmitters (noradrenaline and acetylcholine). In addition to the MOB, the network involved in recognition mainly includes the medial and cortical amygdala. Across consolidation processes, reorganization occurs in the network engaged in lamb recognition. Whether this memorization may be potentiated by other sensory cues is not known. The identification of the chemosensory compounds involved in the attraction for AF and in the recognition of the neonate is important for understanding the mechanisms of maternal attachment. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 49: 54-70, 2007.

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“…In addition breed differences can be partly explained by non-genetic influences such as maternal effects, as extensively documented in rodents [38]. Whereas nongenetic influences have received little attention in farm animal studies [9], recent results on sheep [14][15][16]39] have shown that the influence of prenatal experiences and postnatal maternal care should be carefully considered when estimating the genetic transmission of emotional traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

et al. 2005

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-A total of 1347 weaned lambs from eight genotypes were tested over five consecutive years: Romanov (ROM) and Lacaune (LAC) pure breeds, the two F1 crossbreeds (RL and LR) and the offspring of ewes from these four genotypes sired with Berrichon-du-Cher rams (BCF). The lambs were individually exposed to three challenging tests involving novelty, human contact and social isolation. Ten synthetic variables were used to express social reactivity (i.e., active vs. passive strategy), exploratory activity and reactivity to humans. BCF crossbreds were more active (i.e., high bleats, locomotion and attempts to escape) than purebreds and F1. In contrast, ROM expressed more passive responses (i.e., low bleats and vigilance postures) than LAC and BCF crossbreds. In addition, ROM approached a motionless human less and had longer flight distances to an approaching human than did LAC and BCF crossbreds. When restrained, ROM, and to a lesser extent B×ROM and B×LR, avoided human contact more than did LAC, RL and B×LAC. Most of these differences were explained by direct additive genetic effects while maternal influences or heterosis effects were rarely significant. The highest heritability was for high bleats (h 2 = 0.48). Females were more active and avoided human contact more than did males.genetics / emotional reactivity / human contact / social isolation / sheep

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Maternal Behaviour in Domestic Sheep (Ovis Aries): Constancy and Change With Maternal Experience

Cited by 74 publications

References 37 publications

From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

From birth to colostrum: early steps leading to lamb survival

Maternal responsiveness and maternal selectivity in domestic sheep and goats: The two facets of maternal attachment

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

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