Abstract
Sexually experienced male rats, injected intranasally with ZnSO4 solution, showed decreased social investigation toward juvenile and adult conspecifics of either sex, when tested 2 months posttreatment. Saline-treated control males exhibited levels of social-investigatory behavior toward juveniles similar to those displayed toward adult nonreceptive females. Copulatory attempts and aggression toward juveniles was minimal, with intense aggression against adult males exhibited by controls but not by anosmic subjects. Anosmic and control subjects showed comparable frequencies of mounting adults of both sexes. The results emphasize the importance of olfaction in social recognition and the differential effects of olfactory loss upon copulatory and aggressive behavior.
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Taylor, G. T. Juvenile mouse urine as an aggression inhibitor. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Washington, D. C., November 1977.
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Flannelly, K.J., Blanchard, R.J. Decreased aggressive and social responsiveness of chronically anosmic male rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 19, 173–176 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330222
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330222