Filial attachment and its disruption: insights from the guinea pig

Guinea pigs are precocial rodents that show evidence of a selective attachment to the mother who, in turn, exhibits little active maternal care. Effects of separation in guinea pigs are, therefore, more likely to reflect the disruption of attachment than the removal of, or alterations in, patterns of maternal care. Here, effects in guinea pigs of the presence or absence of the mother on psychobiological endpoints and of maternal separation on depressive-like behavior are reviewed. It is argued that results with guinea pigs often align more closely with those of nonhuman primates than those of laboratory rats and mice, and that the guinea pig offers a valuable translational model for studies of the consequences of attachment and its disruption.