Back to Search Start Over

Rabbit Nipple-Search Pheromone Versus Rabbit Mammary Pheromone Revisited.

Rabbit Nipple-Search Pheromone Versus Rabbit Mammary Pheromone Revisited.

Authors :
Hurst, Jane L.
Beynon, Robert J.
Roberts, S. Craig
Wyatt, Tristram D.
Hudson, Robyn
Rojas, Carolina
Arteaga, Lourdes
Martínez-Gómez, Margarita
Distel, Hans
Source :
Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 11; 2008, p315-324, 10p
Publication Year :
2008

Abstract

Among mammals, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) show unusually limited maternal care and only nurse for a few minutes once each day. Successful suckling depends on pheromonal cues on the mother's ventrum, which release a stereotyped and distinctive pattern of nipple-search behaviour in the young, and which have been termed the nipple-search pheromone. The present report summarizes what is currently known about this unusually effective chemical signal and compares this with information in more recent reports of a rabbit mammary pheromone thought to achieve the same function. We draw attention to anomalies in the present state of knowledge regarding the nature and action of these two sets of chemical signals, and thus to the continuing uncertainty as to the chemical nature and source of the cues governing nipple-search behaviour, and thus successful suckling, in the newborn rabbit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISBNs :
9780387739441
Database :
Supplemental Index
Journal :
Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 11
Publication Type :
Book
Accession number :
33079217
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73945-8_30