One way that pregnant rats prepare for her pups is licking her nipples to clean them. This makes them more sensitive to touch and expands the sensory cortex related to the surrounding skin. An example of animals altering their brains to impact future behaviors. 

Preparing for Offspring

It is seen that virgin female rats do not display these maternal behaviors around newborns. Virgin females dislike the smell of pups. However, if put a female around pups for a few hours for a few days in a row, virgin females can develop some maternal behaviors; they can be trained to care for newborns. 

Virgin Females and Newborns

There is not one hormone responsible for the ignition of maternal behaviors. Many hormones that appear during and after pregnancy are required to develop maternal behaviors and allow mothers to care for their children. It is also interesting to note that some of the same brain regions are involved in both mating and maternal behaviors. 

Hormones for Maternal Behavior

Studies have shown that rats have two competing neural pathways that mediate maternal responses and aversive behaviors towards pups. In virgin females the aversive pathway is dominant and plays a strong role in suppressing maternal behavior. However, the hormones in postpartum rats ignite the opposite circuit and silence the aversive one. Studying the interplay of these two circuits in different environments and in different populations can help us discover the controls of parental care in various species. 

Neural Model of the Control of Maternal Behavior

- Breastfeeding has psychological and physical benefits for both mothers and infants
- Its immunological benefits are considered to be the most effective preventive means of reducing the death rate of children under five years old. 

Breastfeeding

Disorders found in maternal caregivers

Behaviors that are instantly shown in the mother after giving birth. Four measurable behaviors seen in rat mothers are nest building, crouching over pups, retrieving pups, and nursing.  

University of California, Davis

Behavior that follows copulation and is necessary for raising offspring. Very important for humans because our newborns are considered altricial, meaning  we are not born with high level motor and sensory skills. 

Parental Care and Behavior

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Maternal Behavior

Parental Care Reference Library

Male involvement varies across taxa, species, and populations. In mammals, male involvement is relatively rare due to internal fertilization because paternity is not ensured. Paternal behavior is influenced by many factors such as early social environment and genetic differences. 

Paternal Behavior

Studies have shown that different sensory cues from an offspring can signal or drive parental interaction. for example, if an offspring of a domestic hen makes a distressed call, then the hen will immediately come to rescue. A simple visual cue, however, will not spark this immediate response. In mammals, different sensory modalities can combine or isolate to trigger different steps of parental care and responses. 

Sensory Cues

The quality of parental care in humans is influenced by many environmental and physiological factors including stress and mental illnesses. Postpartum depression affects more than 10% of mothers in the United States. 

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