Maternal influences on food preferences in weanling mice Mus domesticus

This study has been designed to evaluate the role of social (maternal) influences on the development of feeding behaviour in mice. A large enclosure, allowing direct observation, was divided into three separate areas: a central area for the nest and two side feeding areas at opposite ends. In one the young could feed with their mother, in the other one the young had to feed on their own. Three different groups were studied: one had the same food in the two feeding areas: the second had a less palatable food in the mother feeding area: the third had two different kinds of food with similar palatability in the feeding areas. The development of infants' behaviour expressed as: a) order of exit from the nest; b) first direction taken on leaving the nest; c) first food consumed: d) frequency of contacts with mother or pup food was electronically recorded and analysed. The results clearly show that weanling mice strongly prefer to follow their mother at her feeding sites even when the mother's food is less palatable than their own. Furthermore infants of one group, in a following binary choice test, preferred to eat the food they experienced in the mum's feeding area instead of what they experienced in their own feeding area. The fitness of such behaviour in more natural situations is discussed.