• Daniel E Olazábal and Larry J Young.
• Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. dolazab@emory.edu
• Dev Psychobiol. 2005 Sep 1;47(2):166-78.

AbstractJuvenile female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are spontaneously maternal, while virgin adult females show significant variability in their response to first pup exposure, ranging from infanticidal to full maternal behavior. In the present study, we investigated whether differences in anxiety-like behavior and affiliation are associated with juvenile-adult and adult individual differences in the response to pups. Forty juvenile (19-20 days) and 42 adult (60-90 days) female prairie voles were exposed to pups for the first time and tested for maternal behavior, anxiety-like behavior (elevated plus maze, open field), and affiliation toward age-matched, same sex conspecifics. Juveniles displayed less anxiety-like behavior, were more affiliative to unfamiliar conspecifics, and interacted with pups more positively than adults. Adults that displayed maternal behavior spent less time immobile, made more crosses through the center of the open field arena, and were more affiliative than adults that attacked the pups. This suggests that lower locomotion or exploration in a novel environment and poor affiliative behavior are negatively associated with maternal responsiveness in female prairie voles.Copyright 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

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