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

Terrazas, Angélica; Nowak, Raymond; Serafín, Norma; Ferreira, Guillaume; Lévy, Frédéric; Poindron, Pascal

doi:10.1002/dev.10041

Cited by 41 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Further studies are warranted to clarify this and it would be particularly interesting to verify whether the latency to first nursing and early frequencies of suckling are affected by anosmia, given the important role of the first suckling activity of the neonate for its bonding to the dam in sheep (Nowak et al, 1997). Nonetheless, in sheep, the results of Terrazas et al (2002) show that if both the lamb's own mother and an alien mother are anosmic, they do not behave differently. Furthermore, it is well established that anosmic goats display similar acceptance behaviours towards alien kids as intact goats do towards their own kid (Romeyer et al, 1994a;Herná ndez et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

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%

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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

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

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“…In lambs, meanwhile, sight is well-developed by one week of age, and neonates are able to recognise their mother using only visual cues (Arnold et al 1975;Shillito 1975;Alexander and Shillito-Walser 1978). Terrazas et al (2002) demonstrated that at around 24 h of age lambs use a combination of visual and acoustic cues to discriminate their mothers from other ewes. These findings, added to the fact that lambs are able to select their mother from a distance at just three days of age (Nowak 1991), indicate that recognition based on distal individual features develops rapidly.…”

Section: Mutual Mother-young Visual Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…These are related to the degree of mouth opening and are easily distinguishable by humans; i.e., low-pitched bleats are quiet vocalisations produced with the mouth closed, while high-pitched bleats are loud calls produced with the mouth wide open. It is generally accepted that low-pitched bleats are an expression of maternal care and have a calming effect on lambs (Carter et al 1992;Terrazas et al 2002;Sebe et al 2007). …”

Section: Mutual Mother-young Vocal Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, vocalisations that present a higher frequency are used in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from the excitement caused by anticipating or receiving food, to warning the flock of the presence of intruders, or signalling that they are experiencing stress, fear or pain. For example, a study by Terrazas et al (2002) showed that a higher frequency of high-pitched bleats elicited aversive behaviour in the lambs, since such bleating is normally associated with maternal agitation and rejection of alien lambs. It is possible, therefore, that in these experiments the difference in maternal vocal activity between a lamb's own mother and alien mothers served as an important cue for lambs to discriminate and prefer their own dam.…”

Section: Lamb Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensory factors involved in mother-young bonding in sheep: a review

Mora-Medina¹,

Orihuela²,

Arch-Tirado³

et al. 2016

Vet. Med.

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ABSTRACT:The aim of this review is to discuss sensory recognition (olfaction, vision, vocalisation, hearing and direct contact) in relation to the ewe-lamb bond, and the relevance of this information for animal management, considering that sensory recognition between ewes and their offspring is a key element of lamb welfare. In some parental care strategies, parents promote recognition of their own young in order to ensure their survival by providing them -and only them -with food, while the young simultaneously learn features of the environment. In the specific case of sheep, mother-young bonding is established during the sensitive period of the first 4 h after birth. The ewe prints a distinctive signal on her lambs that marks her as the legitimate mother, while stimulating the offspring's learning processes through olfactory, visual and acoustic cues. However, the sensory basis for proximal recognition of lambs changes over time as they learn to recognise the signals emitted by the mother. After 4 h -or less -the ewe becomes maternally selective; this means that she accepts only her own lambs at the udder, while actively rejecting alien newborns. Likewise, newborn lambs develop a preference for their mothers in less than one day. This preference is regulated by the difference between the acceptance behaviour manifested by the lamb's own mother and the aggressive rejecting behaviour shown by alien ewes. This early discriminative ability allows the lamb to avoid the aggressive actions of alien dams and maintain close contact with its own lactating mother. At around one week of age, lambs learn to develop the sensory cues that allow them to recognize their mother. These include olfactory, visual, acoustic and tactile information. Mutual ewe-lamb recognition at an early age also ensures that newborns will be fed and cared for by their own mother, which satisfies some of the requirements for their survival and welfare. For all these reasons, any disruption of ewe-lamb bonding during parturition is detrimental to lamb welfare and survival.

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Early recognition of newborn goat kids by their mother: I. Nonolfactory discrimination

Poindron

Gilling

Hernández

et al. 2003

Developmental Psychobiology

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Mother sheep and goats develop an early bond with their neonate on the basis of olfactory recognition. We investigated whether goats were also able to show early (<24 hr postpartum) nonolfactory discrimination of their kids, as already reported in sheep. In a first experiment, we found that goats are not able to recognize their kid at 1 m away on the basis of olfactory cues alone. By contrast, they showed a significant preference for their own kid in a two-choice test as early as 4 hr postpartum, and prepartum maternal anosmia did not impede the ability of mothers to show discrimination. We conclude that goats, like sheep, are fully able to discriminate their neonate without the help of olfactory cues very early after parturition. The difference in the early spatial mother-young relationship between the two species due to the different behavior of the young (kids = hiders, lambs = followers), is not associated with marked differences in the dynamics or mechanisms controlling the development of recognition of the neonate by its mother.

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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

Cited by 41 publications

References 64 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

Sensory factors involved in mother-young bonding in sheep: a review

Early recognition of newborn goat kids by their mother: I. Nonolfactory discrimination

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