Influence of the mother in the development of flavored-food preference in lambs
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026

How to Create Conditioned Taste Aversion for Grazing Ground Covers in Woody Crops with Small Ruminants
Published on: April 30, 2016
H Saint-Dizier1, F Lévy, G Ferreira
1Laboratoire Comportement, Neurobiologie et Adaptation, UMR 6175 INRA-CNRS-Université de Tours-Haras Nationaux, 37380 Nouzilly, France.
Abstract:
The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the mother in the development of flavored-food preference in lambs. First, we demonstrated that lambs that ate flavored food in the presence of their mothers before weaning ate more of this food 1 month after weaning than lambs that ate flavored food with other ewes or lambs exposed to nonflavored food with their mothers. Second, lambs that could only see their mothers eating the flavored food and had access to the food's olfactory cues before weaning, showed similar preference for flavored food 1 month after weaning to lambs that ate the flavored food with their mothers. However, lambs that were separated from their mothers while their mothers consumed flavored food did not reveal a preference for it. Overall these results suggest that development of food preference in lambs depends mainly on observation of the mother, provided there is also access to olfactory cues characterizing the food.
Related Concept Videos
Imprinting
Conditioned Taste Aversion
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single exposure...
Cloning of Dolly the Sheep
Parental Care
Gustation
Instinctive Drift

