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Salivary Pheromones in the Pig and Human in Relation to Sexual Status and Age

  • Chapter
Ontogeny of Olfaction

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that the sense of olfaction plays a vital role in the survival of neonatal animals. Newly born rabbit pups have their eyes and outer ears sealed, and have poor motor co-ordination. Thus, it is vital for their survival that they are able to rapidly find and grasp the nipples of the mother during her brief (3–4 min) visit to the nest in a 24-h period. This important “nipple-search” behaviour is dominated by olfactory cues; knowledge of the pheromone produced by the lactating doe being inborn in the pups (Hudson and Distel this Vol). Olfaction is again the dominant sense in neonatal rats and the pups use odorous cues to find maternal nipples. In this case, the pheromone is caecotroph, a semi-solid material produced in the caecum and excreted with the faeces. Significantly the emission of the attractant, which starts from 14 days post-partum and continues until the end of the fourth post-partum week, is synchronized with the development of the pups’ responsiveness to it (Coopersmith and Leon this Vol).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, SE1 9RT, UK

    D. B. Gower

  2. Animal Research Station, AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology, 307 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0JQ, UK

    W. D. Booth

Authors
  1. D. B. Gower
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  2. W. D. Booth
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Queensland, St. Lucia/Brisbane, Australia, 4067

    Winrich Breipohl

  2. Institut für Biologie III, Universität Tübingen, 7400, Tübingen, Germany

    Raimund Apfelbach

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gower, D.B., Booth, W.D. (1986). Salivary Pheromones in the Pig and Human in Relation to Sexual Status and Age. In: Breipohl, W., Apfelbach, R. (eds) Ontogeny of Olfaction. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71576-1_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71576-1_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-71578-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-71576-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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