Maternal Grooming

Maternal grooming that pups receive can influence how much they groom their own pups and influences later corticosterone responses to stress (Latham & Mason, 2004). Mouse pups are born without hair. When they begin to grow their first coat, their eyes are still closed. At such a young age, the dam must groom their coats for them. This serves a physiological and psychological purpose, because it strengthens the maternal-social bond.

The dam touches any part of the pup's body with her tongue or nose or forepaws, or stretches her nose in the direction of the pups (Coutellier et al., 2008).

Maternal Behaviors

Social

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