Abstract
The effects of male parents on later parental behavior of their pups were investigated in ICR mice. Male parents were vasectomized to prevent female parents from giving birth to the second litter before weaning of the first one. The subjects were reared by a female parent alone or by both parents until 30 days old. When they were exposed to stimulus pups at 10-11 weeks of age (Exp. 1), their parental behaviors didn't differ from each other for their rearing conditions. However, when they were tested after experiencing copulation (Exp. 2), nest-building significantly decreased in the females reared by both parents. These results suggest that in mice the effects of cohabitation with a male parent in the early rearing environment on parental behavior were modifiable by the experience of copulation, but such effects were largely limited.
