Mother-Young and Within-Litter Relations in the European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus

Bautista, Amando; Martı́nez–Gómez, Margarita; Hudson, Robyn

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-72446-9_14

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…At a proximate level of explanation, establishment of preferential nipple use in the cat almost certainly depends, at least in part, on olfactory cues. Thus, in a study in progress (Hudson, Raihani, González, Arteaga, & Distel, 2008) we have found that kittens respond with nipple-search behavior and attachment when placed in contact with the ventrum of late pregnant or lactating females but not of mature, nonreproducing females (reviews in Bautista et al, 2008;Hudson, Rojas, Arteaga, Martínez-Gómez, & Distel, 2008 for a similar phenomenon in domestic rabbits). Furthermore, in agreement with the suggestion by Ewer (1961) and present observations of nipple constancy when mothers changed the side they lay on to nurse, that kittens use local olfactory cues rather than topographical features of the mother to identify their primary nipples, we have found that kittens do not preferentially attach to the equivalent of their primary nipple when tested on a female of similar lactational age to their mother (Hudson, Raihani, González, Arteaga, & Distel, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Nipple preference and contests in suckling kittens of the domestic cat are unrelated to presumed nipple quality

Hudson

Raihani

González

et al. 2009

Developmental Psychobiology

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We studied the development of suckling behavior and weight gain in 11 litters (52 kittens) of free-ranging domestic cats until postnatal day 28 just before the start of weaning. In six of these litters, we also recorded milk intake and contests for access to nipples. Already within 12 hr of birth kittens showed a preference for posterior nipples, and by postnatal day 3 each had developed a preference for particular nipples. In fact, 86% of kittens used one particular nipple most often, and even when the mother changed the side she lay on to nurse. Contests for access to nipples occurred throughout the study period at an average rate of one to two contests per kitten per hour of nursing. Contrary to suggestions in the literature that kittens compete for more productive nipples, we found no relation between kittens' use of particular nipples and their weight gain, milk intake, or involvement in contests during suckling. We suggest that kittens' preference for posterior nipples as well as their establishment of an individual "teat order" might function to optimize the number of nipples remaining productive across lactation, and to reduce energetically costly scrambles and potentially injurious contests among littermates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Nipple preference and contests in suckling kittens of the domestic cat are unrelated to presumed nipple quality

Hudson

Raihani

González

et al. 2009

Developmental Psychobiology

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“…For instance, decreased maternal behavior has been associated with reduced propensity to interact socially at adulthood (Macri and Laviola, 2004; Mintz et al, 2005) and early peer interactions shape individual differences in adult social behavior (Laviola and Alleva, 1995; Terranova and Laviola, 1995; Hudson, 2005; Suomi, 2005; Bautista et al, 2008; Yang et al, 2011). We thus investigated whether differential levels of maternal care and peer interactions might affect adult social behavior in two distinct domains: agonistic behavior (i.e., the ability to manage social interactions, playing either the dominant or the subordinate role) and affiliative behavior (i.e., the display of behavioral patterns aimed at reducing aggressive behavior and increasing social tolerance).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early interactions with mother and peers independently build adult social skills and shape BDNF and oxytocin receptor brain levels

Branchi

Curley

D’Andrea

et al. 2013

Psychoneuroendocrinology

108

125

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The early social environment has a profound impact on developmental trajectories. Although an impoverished early environment can undermine the acquisition of appropriate social skills, the specific role played by the different components of an individual’s early environment in building social competencies has not been fully elucidated. Here we setup an asynchronous communal nesting paradigm in mice to disentangle the influence of maternal care and early peer interactions on adult social behavior and neural systems reportedly involved in the regulation of social interactions. The asynchronous communal nesting consists of three mothers giving birth three days apart, generating three groups of pups -- the Old, the Middle and the Young – all raised in a single nest from birth to weaning. We scored the amount of maternal and peer interactions received by these mice and by a fourth group reared under standard conditions. At adulthood, the four experimental groups have been investigated for social behavior in a social interaction test, i.e. facing an unfamiliar conspecific during five 20-min daily encounters, and for oxytocin receptor and BDNF levels. Results show that only individuals exposed to high levels of both maternal and peer interactions demonstrated elaborate adult agonistic competencies, i.e. the ability to promptly display a social status, and high BDNF levels in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and hypothalamus. By contrast, only individuals exposed to high levels of peer interactions showed enhanced adult affiliative behavior and enhanced oxytocin receptor levels in selected nuclei of the amygdala. Overall these findings indicate that early interactions with mother and peers independently shape specific facets of adult social behavior and neural systems involved in social interaction.

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“…During the first 2 years of captive breeding, we waited to repair rabbits until after juveniles from the previous litter had emerged from their natal burrow and were weaned and removed from the pen. Because rabbits are capable of postpartum estrus (Bautista et al 2008), from 2005 on, we attempted to maximize the number of pregnancies within a breeding season by pairing females again within a week after giving birth, while their juveniles were still in the natal burrow. In our largest pens, females and males were kept together continuously through the breeding season or until the male was needed to breed with another female.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of genetic management on reproduction, growth, and survival in captive endangered pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)

et al. 2013

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A quarter of all lagomorph species worldwide are threatened with extinction. Captive breeding programs, such as that developed for the Columbia Basin (CB) pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis), sometimes are implemented as emergency conservation measures to restore small, genetically distinct populations. However, small source populations also may have low genetic diversity, which may influence attributes related to fitness, including growth, survival, and reproduction. We used mixed-effects regression models to explore the influence of genetic pedigree (% CB) on pairing success, growth, and survival during the 10-year captive breeding program at Washington State University, which included controlled pairings and outbreeding with pygmy rabbits from Idaho. Pairing success, juvenile growth, and juvenile survival declined with increasing CB pedigree of 1 or both parents, suggesting inbreeding depression among the small number of related founders. Demographic variables such as age, sex, and previous pregnancies, and environmental variables such as month and temperature at birth also were associated with production of pygmy rabbits. Our study illustrates the difficulty of retaining a unique genome of a small source population while simultaneously producing enough rabbits for restoration into natural habitat as part of endangered species recovery programs.

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Mother-Young and Within-Litter Relations in the European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus

Cited by 15 publications

References 52 publications

Nipple preference and contests in suckling kittens of the domestic cat are unrelated to presumed nipple quality

Nipple preference and contests in suckling kittens of the domestic cat are unrelated to presumed nipple quality

Early interactions with mother and peers independently build adult social skills and shape BDNF and oxytocin receptor brain levels

Effects of genetic management on reproduction, growth, and survival in captive endangered pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis)

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