Influence of the mother in the development of flavored-food preference in lambs.
Dev. Psychobiol.. 2006-01-01; 49(1): 98-106
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20197
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1. Dev Psychobiol. 2007 Jan;49(1):98-106.
Influence of the mother in the development of flavored-food preference in lambs.
Saint-Dizier H(1), Lévy F, Ferreira G.
Author information:
(1)Laboratoire Comportement, Neurobiologie et Adaptation, UMR 6175
INRA-CNRS-Université de Tours-Haras Nationaux, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the mother in the
development of flavored-food preference in lambs. First, we demonstrated that
lambs that ate flavored food in the presence of their mothers before weaning ate
more of this food 1 month after weaning than lambs that ate flavored food with
other ewes or lambs exposed to nonflavored food with their mothers. Second, lambs
that could only see their mothers eating the flavored food and had access to the
food’s olfactory cues before weaning, showed similar preference for flavored food
1 month after weaning to lambs that ate the flavored food with their mothers.
However, lambs that were separated from their mothers while their mothers
consumed flavored food did not reveal a preference for it. Overall these results
suggest that development of food preference in lambs depends mainly on
observation of the mother, provided there is also access to olfactory cues
characterizing the food.
Copyright (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20197
PMID: 17186512 [Indexed for MEDLINE]