Lecture 7

Question 1

what is parental behavior?

Answer 1

Any behavior(s) that contributes directly to the survival of offspring. Can be maternal or paternal Behavior

Question 2

What is motivated behavior

Answer 2

Eating, drinking, copulation

Question 3

Describe the difference of the three types of parenting.

Answer 3

uniparental- one parent
biparental- two parents
alloparenting - non-offspring parenting

Question 4

What is the relationships between parental care and mating

Answer 4

More parental care = more choosiness about mate

Less parental care = more competition to mate

Question 5

Describe the three types of offsprings in reference to their helplessness.

Answer 5

Altricial- young are born naked, blind and helpless. Cannot thermoregulate
Precocial- born with eyes open, with fur or feathers. Mobile.
Semiprecocial- eyes open, can thermoregulate and eliminate. Always require significant parental care

Question 6

Describe Marsupials

Answer 6

They produce highly altricial young, young remain attached to mother, have pouches, invest in postpartum care, they live in harsh unpredictable environments

Question 7

Describe Monotremes

Answer 7

They lay eggs with two patterns and they’re very primitive animals.

Question 8

Describe Eutherians

Answer 8

They have a placenta and live in stable environments and therefore can invest in long gestations. They have high and low care.

Question 9

What are the two basic patterns on laying eggs with monotremes.

Answer 9

Duck-billed platypus - they build a burrow and seals herself with eggs. Milk secreted from mammary glands directly onto skin.
Anteaters- they lay a single egg and carries it in a pouch. Young lives in pouch post-hatching.

Question 10

Describe two behaviors of altricial parents

Answer 10

Pup-directed behaviors which includes licking/grooming, retrieving and nursing
Non pup-directed behaviors which includes placentophagia, nest building, aggression.

Question 11

in reference to parenting birds are 90% ___ and mammals are 90% ___

Answer 11

birds -> 90% biparental

mammals -> 90% uniparental

Question 12

describe the three types of strategies for precocial young

Answer 12

hider-types - 1 or 2 young stay hidden in nest for 7-10 days at a time while mother forages for food
follower-types - young follows mother from birth
semi-precocial- virtually helpless at birth & can cling on to mother

Question 13

examples of hider-types, follower-types and precocial

Answer 13

hider-types- deer,
follower-types - giraffes and whales
precocial- primates

Question 14

describe 3 kinds of maternal experience

Answer 14

Nulliparous: Never given birth
Primiparous: First time giving birth
Multiparous: More than one birth

Question 15

explain the difference in latency between a Nulliparous and Primiparous mouse

Answer 15

the nulliparous mouse will avoid pups until a 5-6 day exposure then they begin to act maternal. the primiparous mouse will have a shorter latency.

Question 16

what inhibits maternal behavior in mice

Answer 16

chemosensory input to the MPOA and the AMYGDALA

Question 17

how can maternal behavior be induced other than exposure to pups alone.

Answer 17

blood borne substances

Question 18

describe estrogens in relation to maternal care

Answer 18

• it Increase at end of pregnancy and early postpartum
• they’re in in “maternal” brain regions
• they are the “Prime” system for maternal behavior

Question 19

describe progresterone in relation to maternal care

Answer 19

It drops at birth, when placenta removed and the drop is necessary for for onset of maternal behaviors 24-48 hours later.

Question 20

describe prolactin in relation to maternal care

Answer 20

It is a Peptide hormone that is stimulated by
Thyrotropin Releasing Hormone and inhibited by
Dopamine.There is a Spike in prolactin at end of gestation and immediately post-partum

Question 21

describe oxytocin in relation to maternal care

Answer 21

Stimulates uterine contractions & Stimulates milk let-down.
Important for bonding like nursing or skin to skin contact. in hormone-primed virgins they will show maternal behavior 1 hour.

Question 22

describe the MPOA/BNST system in relation to maternal care.

Answer 22

explain

Question 23

what are the three stages of Maintenance of Maternal Behavior and give examples

Answer 23

• Maternally-driven care (hormone-driven) ex Dams build nest, gather pups, crouch over them to nurse
• Pup-driven care. this is the feedback from pups maintains care ex Foster litters -> maternal indefinitely
• Cessation of care (termination)

Question 24

in rats what hormone correlates with decreased time spent with pups over two weeks

Answer 24

prolactin

Question 25

what prevents the time in the nest (a hormone and a procedure)

Answer 25

Adrenalectomy and prolactin

Question 26

Describe the four steps in which prolactin correlates w/ decreased time in the nest.

Answer 26

Suckling stimulates secretion of prolactin Increased levels of prolactin stimulates increased levels of corticosterone Increased levels of corticosterone increases dams metabolic rate, increasing basal body temperature Increase in body temperature leads to less time spent in the nest To avoid potentially lethal hyperthermia

Question 27

Are hormones necessary for expression of basic parental behaviors in humans? explain why or why not?

Answer 27

No. Adoptive parents, siblings, grandparents and caregivers grow attached to infants in a process that appears similar to the process observed in the biological mother

Question 28

what two human maternal behaviors lead to increased oxytocin

Answer 28

Vaginal birth and breastfeeding

Question 29

cortisol positively correlated with what in maternal human behaviors

Answer 29

High salivary Cortisol correlates with more physically affectionate behavior, and talked more often to their babies than did women with low levels of cortisol

Question 30

The ablility to better to recognize own infant’s cries and smell were acheived with what hormone

Answer 30

High levels of cortisol

Question 31

What do women with positive shift in the ratio of estradiol to progesterone show?

Answer 31

a greater attachment to their infants than women with negative shifts of estradiol:progesterone

Question 32

what kind of parental care in uncommon in mammals

Answer 32

paternal

Question 33

in what type of species do you normally see paternal care

Answer 33

pair-bonding species

Question 34

in animals where there is some paternal care what hormones are high and which hormones are low.

Answer 34

high - prolactin and estradiol | low- testoterone and cortisol

Question 35

how many days after exposure to pups do virgin females become maternal

Answer 35

5-6

Question 36

how long is the latency for maternal behavior with 14 days of high estrogen

Answer 36

24-48 hours

Question 37

describe the interactions between the mother and pups that are required for nursing

Answer 37

Pups - sign, sound smell mother- distal cues stimulate contact seeking pups: mother touch pups mother: perioral contact stimulates nuzzling, licking and hovering over pups: pups touch mother mother: ventral contact stimulates crouching posture pups: facilitates suckling

Question 38

what happens with ACTH in the first two weeks post-partum

Answer 38

it increases