Abstract
No rats killed mice in a group of adult male rats which had been castrated on the first day of life; in samples of intact adult males the percentages of killers were consistently between 20%-30%. The percentage of killers among females was slightly higher than in the castrated male group. Testosterone injections had a slight effect in that three castrates began to kill after adult treatment with TP. Electric shock failed to induce stereotyped attacks on mice in castrates, who were also reliably subordinate in shock-elicited fights with intact conspecifics.
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These results were presented at the meeting of AAAS in Philadelphia, December 1971. I thank William Miley for his surgical and data collection work.
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Baenninger, R. Effects of Day 1 castration on aggressive behaviors of rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 3, 189–190 (1974). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333440
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333440