Non-nurturent functions of mother-young interaction in the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata).

Field observation of the interaction of the precocial young of the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata, a Neotropical rodent) with their dam suggests a number of adaptive functions of mother-young interaction not readily observed in either the species or situations normally employed in laboratory studies of maternal behavior. The presence of the agouti mother in the vicinity of the nest site provides protection for her young from predators and decreases the probability that the young will follow unrelated adult conspecifics away from the nest area. Trips taken together by mother and young during the first 2 weeks of pup life both define the area in which pups explore alone during the third and fourth weeks postpartum and provide the young with information concerning safe refuges in the vicinity of the nest. The similarity in state of development between neonatal agouti and the weanling young of altricial rodents suggests that the dams of altricial young may serve functions with respect to their offspring at weaning similar to those which agouti mothers serve with respect to their precocial young in the weeks immediately following parturition.