Vaginocervical stimulation of Ewes induces the rapid formation of a new bond with an alien young without interfering with a previous bond.
Dev. Psychobiol.. 2010-05-20; 52(6): 537-544
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20459
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1. Dev Psychobiol. 2010 Sep;52(6):537-44. doi: 10.1002/dev.20459.
Vaginocervical stimulation of Ewes induces the rapid formation of a new bond with
an alien young without interfering with a previous bond.
Lévy F(1), Keller M, Cornilleau F, Moussu C, Ferreira G.
Author information:
(1)INRA, UMR85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, F-37380
Nouzilly, France.
Ewes form a selective olfactory memory for their lambs after 2 hr of mother-young
interaction following parturition. Mothers will subsequently reject any strange
lamb at suckling. The present study investigated whether artificial
vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) allows the formation of a selective bond with an
unfamiliar lamb and whether it interferes with the maintenance of the bond formed
with the familiar lamb. At 2 hr postpartum, mothers were separated from their
familiar lamb after having formed a selective bond with it and were given 10 min
of mechanical VCS. In the « VCS + lamb » group (n = 24) an unfamiliar lamb was left
with the ewe for 2 hr whereas in the « VCS no lamb » group (n = 26) the mother was
left alone for the same period of time. Ewes of the « no VCS » group (n = 14) did
not receive any VCS. In the majority of animals of the « VCS + lamb » group (23/24)
VCS induced a complete acceptance of the unfamiliar lamb without any disruption
of the bond previously formed with the familiar lamb. VCS or 2 hr of separation
did not disrupt the maintenance of the selective bond initially formed with the
familiar lamb since all the ewes of the « VCS no lamb » and « no VCS » groups
accepted it at suckling.
DOI: 10.1002/dev.20459
PMID: 20806326 [Indexed for MEDLINE]