title: Scent of a Ewe: transmission of a social cue by conspecifics affects sexual performance in male sheep.
abstract: Unlike males from other domestic species, domestic rams (Ovis aries) are not sexually stimulated, as determined by measuring sexual performance, following the opportunity to watch a copulating pair. Previously, we reported that aspects of ram sexual performance were improved when rams interacted with a male conspecific that had mated an estrous ewe. Whether the cues were gender-, estrous state-, or behavior-related was tested in this study. Sexually experienced rams were exposed to male pen mates that had interacted with an estrous ewe, a non-estrous ewe, an estrous ewe with a cloth perineal patch, or a ram, or that had been placed alone in a small pen. The rams were then tested for sexual performance. Rams performed more olfactory investigative behaviors toward pen mates that had interacted with a ewe, regardless of her estrous state, than toward a pen mate that had been exposed to another male. Rams exposed to pen mates that had interacted with a ewe also had shorter postejaculatory and interejaculation intervals and subsequently achieved more ejaculations in standardized sexual performance tests. Results from this experiment confirm that male-male interactions affect sexual performance in male sheep and that olfactory cues likely account for the transfer of information among individuals.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004542:Ejaculation / Q000502:physiology; D004971:Estrus; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012756:Sheep / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior