MICE REARED WITH RAT AUNTS - EFFECTS ON PLASMA CORTICOSTERONE AND OPEN FIELD ACTIVITY

IN recent experiments newborn C57B1/10 mice were fostered to lactating rat mothers; in some cases rat peers were also present before or after weaning1-4. Mice reared in such conditions were markedly less aggressive, less active in an open field, and preferred a rat to a mouse in a two choice social preference test. Further experiments established that one of the principal variables involved in these shifts in behaviour was the rat mother. © 1969 Nature Publishing Group.