Prenatal olfactory learning in the domestic dog
Section snippets
Subjects
Subjects were 14 pregnant female dogs. All dogs (four labrador retrievers; three golden retrievers; seven crossbreeds) were family owned. Although numbers per group were small, the raw data did not differ between breeds or sex of pups, so we grouped the data from all dogs for statistical analysis. The dogs were all familiarized with the experimenters during pregnancy to prevent fear responses at the time of whelping. Ethical approval for this and the other two experiments was given by the
Methods
The results of experiment 1 indicate that pups exposed to a chemosensory stimulus during their gestation showed an altered preference for this stimulus after birth. This behaviour may reflect prenatal olfactory learning. Alternatively, exposure to aniseed during the gestational period may alter pups' olfactory responses more generally. Newborns may thus show a changed preference to any odour after birth, not just to the stimulus to which they were exposed in utero. To examine this hypothesis,
Methods
Some care must be taken with the above conclusion. Fox (1972) reported that neonatal dogs showed an increased attraction to aniseed if they were exposed to it on their mothers' nipples during suckling. During parturition, mothers first lick the pups and then themselves. This behaviour may transfer amniotic fluid to the nipples and, if aniseed is still present in the amniotic fluid, may deposit the flavour on to the nipples. Thus, the pups in experiment 1 may have learned the odour of aniseed
Discussion
These studies indicate that exposure to a chemosensory substance via maternal diet influences pups' preferences for this substance after birth, as assessed by their orientation response. This is the first evidence of prenatal olfactory learning in the dog and in the order Carnivora.
Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the acquired orientation response is specific to the odour to which pups are exposed before birth and not to a more generalized change in olfactory preferences. Results of experiment 3
Acknowledgments
We thank all the owners and dogs who took part in this study.
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