Stimulus control of cannibalism and maternal behavior in anosmic mice

Abstract Lactating mice had their olfactory bulbs removed 3, 7 or 14 days after their young were born. They were then observed for cannibalism; 80, 55 and 0 per cent of the three groups, respectively, ate their young. Another study showed that differences were not a function of maternal experience by using bulbectomized virgin female mice: pup killing also declined as a function of pup age for these females. The last experiment showed that one of the cues which attenuates pup killing is the presense of body hair.