Maternal influence on the response of wild and domestic Norway rats to a novel environment.

Abstract

AbstractThe influence of the maternal environment on the response of adult wild and domestic Norway rats to a novel environment was assessed by comparing the behavior of reciprocal hybrid groups to each other and to the parental strains. Wild rats exhibited shorter latencies for activity, greater total activity, more time grooming, smaller body weights, and larger adrenals than domestic rats. (Defecation rates were similar.) Reciprocal hybrids were intermediate to the parent strains for all variables. With the exception of total activity little evidence was obtained for a maternal influence on the behavioral responses studied. Differences between wild and domestic rats in response to a novel environment are more readily explained by genetic changes accompanying the domestication process than by differences in the maternal environments.