Is maternal behavior correlated with later explorative behavior of young guinea pigs (Cavia aperea f. porcellus)?

Abstract 

The results of previous studies, mostly involving primates, have shown a correlation between mothering styles and later explorative behavior of the young. On the basis of our previous study on the existence of mothering styles in guinea pigs we conclude that three main components of maternal behavior are useful for these kinds of studies: locomotion, affiliative behavior, and aggressive behavior. In the present study we examined the extent to which these components were correlated with later explorative behavior of guinea-pig pups. The later explorative behavior of 48 pups from 16 mothers was measured after weaning in a series of tests designed to highlight different aspects of exploration. The results indicate that maternal behavior does not have a predominant correlation with later explorative behavior of the pups. Correlations were not found between the affiliative and aggressive behavior of the mothers and the later explorative behavior of the pups. Mothers scoring high on locomotion had pups that showed more explorative behavior than did the pups of mothers scoring low on locomotion. This correlation, however, was not linear and was significant for only one parameter.