Abstract
Exposing a newly mated female to a ‘strange’ male (i.e. a male other than the original stud) has been found to block pregnancy in several rodent species. First reported in a spontaneously ovulating species, the mouse Mus musculus (Bruce, 1959), this so-called ‘Bruce effect’ has since been demonstrated in induced ovulators such as the field vole Microtus agrestis, meadow vole Microtus pennsylvanicus, and praire vole Microtus ochrogaster (Clulow & Clarke, 1968; Milligan, 1976; Clulow and Langford, 1971; Stehn & Richmond, 1975).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bell, D.J., 1980, Social olfaction in lagomorphs, Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond., 45: 141–163.
Brambell, F.W.R., 1948, Prenatal mortality in mammals, Biol. Rev., 23: 370–407.
Bruce, H.M., 1959, An exteroceptive block to pregnancy in the mouse, Nature (Lond.), 184: 105.
Bruce, H.M., 1961, Time relationships in the pregnancy block induced in mice by strange males, J. Reprod. Fert., 2: 138–142.
Bruce, H.M., 1963, Olfactory block to pregnancy among grouped mice, J. Reprod. Fert., 6: 451–460.
Bruce, H.M. and Parkes, A.S., 1961, The effect of concurrent lactation on olfactory block to pregnancy in the mouse, J. Endocrinology, 22: 6–7.
Chipman, R.K. and Fox, K.A., 1966, Factors in pregnancy blocking, age and reproductive background of females: numbers of strange males, J. Reprod. Fert., 12: 399–403.
Clulow, F.V. and Clarke, J.R., 1968, Pregnancy block in Microtus agrestis, an induced ovulator, Nature (Loud), 219: 511.
Clulow, F.V. and Langford, P.E., 1971, Pregnancy block in the meadow vole Microtus pennsylvanicus, J. Reprod. Fert., 24: 275–277.
Milligan, S.R., 1976, Pregnancy blocking in the vole, Microtus agrestis. 1 Effect of the social environment, J. Reprod. Fert., 46: 91–95.
Milligan, S.R., 1979, Pregnancy blockage and the memory of the stud male in the vole, Microtus agrestis, J. Reprod. Fert., 57: 223–225.
Mykytowycz, R., 1974, Odours in the spacing behaviour of mammals, in: “Pheromones”, M.C. Birch, ed., North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Parkes, A.S. and Bruce, H.M., 1961, Olfactory stimuli in mammalian reproduction, Science, 134: 1049–1054.
Stehn, R.A. and Richmond, M.G., 1975, Male induced pregnancy termination in the prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, Science, N.Y., 187: 1211–1213.
Terman, C.R., 1969, Pregnancy failure in prairie deermice related to parity and social environment, Anim. Behay., 17: 104–108.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bell, D., Reece, C. (1983). An Investigation into the ‘Bruce Effect’ in Domesticated Rabbits. In: Müller-Schwarze, D., Silverstein, R.M. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9652-0_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9652-0_27
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9654-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9652-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive