McCarthy M M, vom Saal F S
Physiol Behav. 1985 Dec;35(6):843-9. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(85)90248-3.
The majority of female mice (Mus musculus) from laboratory stocks are spontaneously parental. In contrast, the majority of adult wild female house mice exhibit infanticide (the killing of preweanling young), but the frequency with which infanticide is observed varies as a function of age and reproductive state. Prepubertal females were less likely to exhibit infanticide (39%) than were adult virgin females (61%). The frequency of infanticide increased during pregnancy, with over 90% of females exhibiting infanticide just before parturition. But, after parturition, previously infanticidal females cared for their own litters. When lactating female mice were tested after two days of separation from their own nursing young for their behavior toward a novel newborn pup on either the tenth or twenty-fifth day after parturition, the proportion of the females that exhibited infanticide was not significantly different from that of adult virgin females (about 60%). After only two hours of separation from their own nursing young on the tenth day after parturition, however, all females continued to exhibit parental behavior toward a novel pup.
大多数实验室品系的雌性小鼠（小家鼠）会自发地表现出母性行为。相比之下，大多数成年野生雌性家鼠会表现出杀婴行为（杀害断奶前的幼崽），但观察到杀婴行为的频率会因年龄和生殖状态而有所不同。青春期前的雌性小鼠表现出杀婴行为的可能性（39%）低于成年未孕雌性小鼠（61%）。杀婴行为的频率在怀孕期间会增加，超过90%的雌性小鼠在分娩前会表现出杀婴行为。但是，分娩后，之前有杀婴行为的雌性小鼠会照顾自己的幼崽。当哺乳期雌性小鼠在与自己哺乳的幼崽分离两天后，于分娩后的第十天或第二十五天接受测试，观察它们对一只新出生幼崽的行为时，表现出杀婴行为的雌性小鼠比例与成年未孕雌性小鼠的比例没有显著差异（约60%）。然而，在分娩后的第十天，仅与自己哺乳的幼崽分离两小时后，所有雌性小鼠对新幼崽仍继续表现出母性行为。
