Relocation of the site of mother–young contact: Maternal transport behavior in Norway rats.

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Abstract
Until the beginning of the 3rd wk postpartum, the Norway rat mother will abandon a disturbed nest and transport her young individually to a new location. When the nest box was not disturbed, or when the litter and dam remained concealed after the nest-box cover was removed, the probability of transport was low. Exposure of the mother and young by destruction of the nest, or flooding of the nest site, reliably elicited transport. The elimination of pup distress signals by anesthetization of the litter did not decrease the probability or increase the latency of transport. Mothers may be responding directly to the disturbance itself rather than to the distress of the pups. Although ultrasonic distress signals from the young are not necessary for the elicitation of transport behavior, they are sufficient to increase the probability of transport when the mother and young remain partially concealed. Distress cries emitted by a single pup induced the mother to transport the entire litter, with no preference for the pup emitting the cries. A clear function for ultrasonic vocalizations in a rodent species is indicated.

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