Maternal behavior variations and adaptations, and pup development within litters of various sizes in Wistar rat

Abstract

Variations of two maternal behavior components (time spent with litter and rapidity of pup retrieving) as well as certain physical and developmental characteristics of pups (weight, relative weight gain, and neuromotor maturation) in rats were simultaneously studied in 29 various-sized litters in which interindividual variations were not experimentally amplified. Results showed mothers' behavioral adaptations to litters' characteristics (size and weight). Time spent with young was linked to litter size, whereas rapidity of pup retrieving was related to the pups' physical characteristic. Beyond these adaptive variabilities, residual variations subsisted between mothers. These variations were determinant for differences in pup development for only one component: the time that mothers spent with their litters, while pup retrieving component variations did not have any effect.