Mother mice give energy to their children when life is threatened

An interesting researcher from Iowa State University discovered an interesting thing: the sick mouse mother sacrificed her energy to produce healthier children.

Lisa Schwanz - a researcher on ecology, evolution and biology - learns about the size of children of healthy maternal mice and sick children who see mother mice infected with parasites that give birth to big children more healthy mouse mothers.

This result is very surprising because most mammals tend to prioritize their existence when threatened by disease. Schwanz's research has recently been published in New Scientist magazine.

In the article she wrote: 'It is predicted that organisms often reduce reproductive activity caused by pathogenic parasites that have the greatest impact on fertility'. In other words, 'disease makes animals have defensive reflexes for survival, not for their children'.

However, in the species of deer, it is expected to go in the opposite direction.

In the study, Schwanz gave 30 deer mice the infection of parasites that reduced their subsequent fertility, even causing them to die. When giving birth to older healthy babies, mother mice may have compensated for their loss of fertility. She also kept 21 healthy mouse deer to control.

Deer mouse.(Photo: Rob Sandelin)

After a few weeks, all mice have a pair. When the pups are born, whether from a healthy or sick maternal mouse, all of them are weighed and tagged.

The results showed that the offspring of ill mothers were larger in size. For deer mice, large body sizes are directly proportional to their ability to survive and reproduce.

Schwanz said: 'This shows that animals have a lot of different ways to fight disease'. Because this is not what she considered when conducting research, the results made her very impressed. 'I was really surprised to get such remarkable results'.

Parasitic animals introduced into the species are indirect, they cannot infect from one mouse to another. Deer mice can only become infected from the source of infection, not from another deer mouse. So Schwanz can make sure the mother mouse doesn't infect the pups.