Mother’s scent for motherless neonates: Responses of artificially reared lambs to ewe’s inguinal wax odor

Abstract

Mammalian newborns depend on their mother’s milk to satisfy their initial needs of protection and nutrition. They reach the source of milk in following visual, tactile and olfactory cues. In particular, parturient ewes produce an odorous wax in the inguinal glands close to the teats. When presented separately to newly born lambs, this inguinal wax (IW) elicits arousal, head orientation, licking and increased respiratory rate indicative of their avidity for it. The present study assessed whether transferring IW into the environment of artificially fed lambs would improve their responses to the novelty of the situation. We first assessed whether suckled lambs preferred an IW-scented teat to a scentless control teat. Then, we assessed whether a teat odorized with IW was more easily learned as suckable relative to a control teat. Finally, the lambs’ growth performance from postnatal days (PND) 0 and 20 was compared in groups reared with or without IW spread on the milk-feeder in their home pen. The behavioral assays did not evidence any significant effect of IW odor on previously suckled lambs’ attraction and appetence responses. However, relative to the scentless control condition, being exposed to an IW-smeared milk-feeder led to a higher body weight at 20 days after birth. In the conditions of the present study, namely after suckling initiation, IW odor appeared not to be a strong determinant of short-term attraction or appetitive behavior in neonate lambs. The continued presence of IW, a familiar odor, in the artificial suckling context may improve artificially-reared lambs’ emotional state that may affect their weight gain.