Abstract
The effect of prolificacy on mother–young mutual recognition is still largely unknown in sheep. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of prolific ewes to develop an exclusive bond with their neonate and to recognize each other from alien subjects. Observations were performed on 11 D’man and 16 Romanov ewes with, respectively, 19 and 37 of their lambs. Maternal selectivity was tested at 24 h postpartum during two consecutive periods of 3 min. All mothers accepted their own lambs at suckling, while 21 out of 27 (78%) rejected the alien, thus displaying mostly selective nursing. To assess mother–young recognition, a two-choice test was performed at 36 h postpartum. Ewes clearly preferred their own lambs to an alien lamb and behavioral differences were not found between mothers of small (singletons and twins) and large litters (triplets and quadruplets). Romanov ewes reached their own lambsmore rapidly and spent more time near them than D’man ewes. Lambs from small litters, in particular light lambs, clearly preferred their mothers to an alien dam; however, both light and heavy lambs in large litters did not discriminate between the two stimulus ewes. D’man lambs clearly preferred their mothers to an alien dam; in contrast, such a preference was not as clearly demonstrated in Romanov lambs.
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Acknowledgements
Mohamed Chniter is supported by a MOBIDOC Postdoctoral Fellowship under PASRI program (Projet d’Appui au Système de Recherche et de l’Innovation) funded by the EU and managed by the ANPR (Agence Nationale de Promotion de la Recherche Scientifique, Tunisia). The authors would like to thank Mr. Ahmed Belgacem and Mr. Abdel Karim Elbahi (IRA-Gabès, Tunisia), as well as Mr. Damien Capoand and Mr Eric Archer (INRA-Nouzilly, France) for their help and assistance.
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The procedures used in this study were conducted under the approval number 19 of the Animal Ethics Committee (Comité d’éthique du Val de Loire, CEEA VdL, France).
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Chniter, M., Dhaoui, A., Hammadi, M. et al. Mother–young bonding in prolific D’man and Romanov sheep. J Ethol 35, 297–305 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-017-0521-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-017-0521-0