ABSTRACT
We began to study rabbit maternal behavior because Prof. Carlos Beyer and Prof. Jay Rosenblatt (then director of the Institute of Animal Behavior at Rutgers University) were interested in exploring the underlying neuroendocrine control of the “peculiar” form of parental care displayed by this mammal (see below). Beyer had already performed several studies on the neuroendocrine control of lactation in rabbit does, together with Flavio Mena (see Chapter 10 by Hoffman et al., this volume), but they had hardly touched on the behavioral aspect. Rosenblatt, by contrast, was a pioneer of the studies on maternal behavior and had numerous publications, mostly in rats. Although GGM had never worked on maternal behavior, she was persuaded by both Beyer and Rosenblatt to begin this line of research in the very well-kept colony of rabbits established in the laboratory in Tlaxcala in central Mexico. After several publications devoted to investigating how particular hormones promote specific
11.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 187 11.2 What is a Complex System? ....................................................................... 189 11.3 How Does a Female (Rabbit) Become a Mother? ...................................... 189
11.3.1 Nest Building ................................................................................ 189 11.3.2 Nursing .......................................................................................... 191
11.3.2.1 Chronostasis and a Suckling-Entrained Oscillator ...... 192 11.4 Permanent vs Transitory Changes in the Maternal Brain .......................... 193 11.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 194 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 195 References .............................................................................................................. 195
maternal activities in does (see below), GGM became interested in exploring the time dimension of rabbit nursing. As chronobiology was then an alien field to her, she contacted RAR, a recognized expert on such topic, and tried to interest him in exploring a “new” behavior. Together, we have started a line of research aimed at investigating the underpinnings of the ways by which particular brain regions and somatosensory stimuli orchestrate the timing of rabbit nursing.
