ROLES OF THE MAIN OLFACTORY AND VOMERONASAL SYSTEMS IN THE RESPONSE OF THE FEMALE HAMSTER TO YOUNG

A series of experiments was undertaken to investigate the roles of the main olfactory and vomeronasal systems in the response of the female golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) to pups. Upon first encountering hamster pups, virgin females are either maternal or cannibalistic. Radical bulbectomy, which disrupts both the main and accessory bulbs, reduced maternal behavior, pup killing, and nest building. Many animals neither killed nor carried pups following radical bulbectomy, and some previously maternal animals attacked pups after bulbectomy. The effects of bulbectomies were not reproduced by peripheral deafferentations (sensory loss only) of the main olfactory and vomeronasal systems. After vomeronasal nerve cuts (VNNC) most killers became carriers and built better nests than before deafferentation. Zinc sulfate treatment (main olfactory system sensory loss) alone had little effect, but when combined with transection of the vomeronasal nerves, it converted to carriers those killers that had continued to kill after VNNC. Because none of these procedures affected cricket killing, the treatments that reduced pup killing appear to be stimulus rather than response related. The behavior pattern displayed during cricket killing was similar to that observed during pup killing. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.