ABSTRACT
Detailed descriptions of infanticide are being published by etholo gists with increasing frequency, yet relatively little is known about infanticide compared to other types of aggressive behavior (e.g., inter male, interfemale, and maternal aggression). Infanticide in laboratory mice is a testosterone-dependent sexually dimorphic behavior. Males tend to exhibit killing of newborns at relatively high levels, whereas virgin females only occasionally kill young. Moreover, genetic constitu tion is a significant determinant of this behavior in laboratory mice with some strains displaying high cannibalistic tendencies, whereas other strains exhibit little or no pup-killing behavior. This chapter re views recent data on genetic and hormonal influences on infanticide in two laboratory strains of mice. Its goal is to provide a model for the way in which genes and hormones interact to modulate the killing of young.
