Aggressive experience and maternal aggression in the Mongolian gerbil.
Some recent reports suggest that female rodents which have experienced frequent aggressive encounters during lactation maintain higher levels of aggression than non-lactating controls, even after their pups are weaned. To test whether aggressive experience during lactation produced a different effect from aggressive experience at other times, three groups of female gerbils each were observed during 10 exposures to unfamiliar male intruders over a 5 week period. During week 1, lactating females were more aggressive than virginal controls. During the remaining weeks, neither lactating nor weaned females were significantly more aggressive than controls. It was concluded that the effects of repeated aggressive experience are similar whether the females are lactating or not.
D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005849:Gerbillinae; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D011247:Pregnancy; D012931:Social Environment; D012934:Social Isolation