Mothers determine sexual preferences

The extent to which behaviour is determined by 'nurture' as opposed to 'nature' in mammals is controversial, although most recent interest has focused on genetic determinants. Here we investigate maternal influences on behavioural development by using the approach of cross-foster...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature (London) Vol. 395; no. 6699; pp. 229 - 230
Main Authors:	Kendrick, Keith M, Hinton, Michael R, Atkins, Khia, Haupt, Martin A, Skinner, John D
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Nature Publishing Group 17-09-1998
Subjects:	Animals Female Females Genetic factors Goats Imprinting (Psychology) Influence Male Males Maternal Behavior Mothers Offspring Preferences Sex Characteristics Sexual Behavior, Animal Sexual orientation Sheep Species Specificity
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The extent to which behaviour is determined by 'nurture' as opposed to 'nature' in mammals is controversial, although most recent interest has focused on genetic determinants. Here we investigate maternal influences on behavioural development by using the approach of cross-fostering between sheep and goats, which, like ourselves, form close individual attachment bonds with their offspring. We show that the emotional bond between a mother and her male offspring, rather than other social or genetic factors, may irreversibly determine these species' social and sexual preferences. Maternal influences on female offspring are weaker and totally reversible. In both sexes, visual cues from the face are important for determining attraction.
Bibliography:	SourceType-Other Sources-1 content type line 63 ObjectType-Correspondence-1 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0028-0836 1476-4687
DOI:	10.1038/26129