Discrimination between conspecific and allospecific infants by male gerbils and mice before and after experience of their own young.
Prior to the birth of their 1st litter, male gerbils generally respond paternally toward both gerbil and mouse pups. Once they have experience of their own pups, however, they continue to respond paternally toward unrelated gerbil pups but kill mouse pups. Male CSI mice, on the other hand, respond paternally to unrelated mouse pups both before and after the birth of their own litter but tend to ignore gerbil pups at these times. These data are discussed with respect to infanticide, onset of paternal care and the narrowing of effective stimuli for eliciting paternal care.
D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005849:Gerbillinae; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity