Food availability as a determinant of the rats' circadian rhythm in maternal behavior.

Thre present study was designed to determine whether environmental factors other than light would alter the dialy periodicity in the rat's maternal behavior and whether such a change in the dam's behavior pattern would in turn alter the pattern of her sucklings' milk intake. Experiment 1 determined the daily pattern of litter weight gain (which presumably reflects milk intake) displayed by young reared by dams fed and watered either ad lib (Group C), only during the day (Group D), or only at night (Group N). Experiment 2 compared nocturnal and diurnal frequency of maternal behavior in Groups C, D, and N. The pattern of both litter weight gain and maternal behavior was observed to be diurnal in Groups C and N and nocturnal in Group D.