Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kindermann, Ute
• Hudson, Robyn
• Distel, Hans

Titel

Learning of suckling odors by newborn rabbits declines with age and suckling experience

Ist Teil von

• Developmental psychobiology, 1994-03, Vol.27 (2), p.111-122

Ort / Verlag

Hoboken: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company

Erscheinungsjahr

1994

Quelle

Wiley Online Library Journals Frontfile Complete

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• After being nursed just once for 4‐5 min by an artificially scented doe, newborn rabbits show the full pattern of nipple‐search behavior when placed on a fur scented with the same odor as their mother. It was the aim of the present study to test whether such rapid learning is dependent on age. In Experiment 1 in which normally raised pups were nursed by a scented doe either on Days 1, 3 or 5, conditionability was found to decline markedly by postnatal Day 5. In Experiment 2 conditionability was maintained in pups deprived of suckling experience by bottle feeding from Days 1–4, but not in hand‐raised pups allowed to search on a doe for 4 min daily without milk intake. Possible mechanisms underlying the decline in conditionability to suckling odors, as well as the potential functional significance of this early learning for immediate postnatal and later life are discussed.© 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.