ABSTRACT
The male house mouse, (Mus domesticus and M musculus), has become the focus of much research concerning the socioecology, evolution and physiology of infanticidal and parental behavior in males. Male house mice routinely attack and kill alien young whenever they encounter them, but an effective infanticidal strategy must allow a male to recognize when his own offspring might be present. Thus, a fundamental issue in the study of infanticide concerns the factors that prevent male mice from harming their own progeny. It is now widely accepted that multiple behavioral mechanisms — and combinations thereof — are responsible for inhibiting pupkilling behavior in male mice (e.g. Soroker and Terkel, 1988; Palanza and Parmigiani, 1991; Elwood, this book). The major theme of this chapter, however, involves our investigation of one of these inhibitory mechanisms — specifically, the dramatic changes in behavior toward offspring that are triggered by the act of ejaculation.
