Paternal influences on locomotor activity of the newborn mouse

In many rodent species parent presence interacts both directly and indirectly with physiological and ethological development of the offspring (Dudley, 1974; Elwood, 1975). The female mouse, shortly after giving birth, produces a chemical signal together with urine, which reduces the motility of 6 days old mice (Cowley & Wise, 1970). Based on the view that the male mouse actively cares for the litter (Priestnall & Young, 1978; Csermely & Mainardi, 1981) and strongly affects the offspring's general behaviour (Dudley, 1962, 1963) my research attempted to investigate the significance of paternal presence on offspring behaviour, particularly locomotor activity.