Previous sexual experience and olfactory preference for novel versus original sex partners in rats.

Abstract

Rats having different types of previous sexual history were given an experimental sex experience in which they copulated to one ejaculation or until sexually satiated; then they received a preference test for the odors from the original vs. a novel sex partner. Polygamous males preferred the novel female odor (p < .05) at both levels of satiation. Monogamous males showed no preference at either level. Vigorous males mating for the first time preferred the novel female odor (p < .01) only if satiated. Polygamous females showed no preference at either level of satiation for the odor from the original vs. a novel male. Beach and Jordan (1956) showed that pairs of rats allowed to mate ad lib gradually become less responsive and finally, ceased copulating after the males achieve an average of about seven ejaculations (range: 5-10). However, under these conditions, the termination of mating behavior is thought to stem not from the physical or sexual exhaustion of either partner, but rather from a reduction in the excitatory value of the female (Beach, 1965, p. 554; Fowler, 1965, pp. 74-75). Support for this view is supplied by Fisher (1962) who showed that under optimal conditions of stimulus variation, males will achieve an average of 12 ejaculations (range: 7-22), and by Krames (1969) who showed that females will continue mating with a second partner until the latter achieves an average of 5 additional ejaculations (range: 3-6). Other investigators have also shown that satiated males are more likely to resume copulating with a novel female than with their original partner

Social Olfaction: A Review of the Role of Olfaction in a Variety of Animal Behaviors

“…Male rats neonatally castrated showed no preference for normal male odor as was shown by sham-operated males (Wylie, 1968). These experiments indicated that previous housing history had more effect on sex odor preference in females than in males (Carr, et al, 1970). Adult naive receptive females preferred nonreceptive female odors over receptive female odors, whereas immature segregated receptive females preferred the receptive female odor.…”

Long-Term Influence of Perinatal Asphyxia on the Social Behavior in Aging Rats

“…Furthermore, Lammers et al [14,15] showed that self-grooming is localized to the medial hypothalamus, while social grooming is localized to the lateral hypothalamus. In the present study, we found that asphyxiated ani-Weitzdoerfer/Gerstl/Pollak/Hoeger/Dreher/ Lubec Social sniffing, a type of social exploratory behavior mediated by the olfactory channel, enables the recognition of the encountered animal's individuality and allows an appropriate behavior towards the other [16][17][18][19]. Van Ree et al [11] found that social exploration (sniffing) was more frequently observed in nonisolated rats, while animals after periods of short-term isolation spent more time with actions related to contact behavior (social grooming, mounting).…”

The rodent preputial gland

“…Generalized body odour allows sexually experienced male rats to distinguish between receptive and non-receptive females (Carr, Loeb & Dissinger, 1965;Carr & Wylie, 1966;Wylie & Loeb, 1970a, b;Stern, 1970). Rats can also distinguish olfactorily between new and original sexual partners (Krames, 1970;Carr et al, 1970a) indicating that individuals can be recognized by their odour. Sebaceous glands are, putatively, a major source of general body odour.…”