Baby rabbits learn about smell thanks to pheromone in breast milk

The olfactory signal helps newborn rabbits to breastfeed when they are born, allowing it to begin a learning period to develop in the future. Pheromones in mother's milk stimulate rabbits to breastfeed and help find food sources.

This stimulus was discovered three years ago by a group of researchers from the European Center for Taste Research.

Scientists Gérard Coureaud and Benoist Schaal, who led the study, demonstrated that pheromone plays an important role in the study of odor in baby rabbits. They gave 2-day-old babies a sniff of a mixture containing pheromone produced by the mammary gland and a new odor that did not have any special meaning. They then tested this new smell separately. At first, the rabbits did not react, but 24 hours later, they found the breast to feed.

The researchers explained that the neutral smell was learned by rabbits by exposure to pheromones. This is the first time researchers have discovered pheromone has the ability to stimulate the olfactory bulb in mammals.

VN