Sex-eliciting behavior of the female rat: Discrimination of receptivity by anosmic and intact males

Cue stimuli defining the receptive female rat may be arbitrarily dichotomized as olfactory and nonolfactory, the latter primarily relating to assorted precopulatory movements. Experiment 1 compared the ability of sexually experienced anosmic and intact males to discriminate an estrous female within a group of nonestrous females. Although anosmic males were handicapped during the initial minutes of exposure, both groups readily identified the receptive female. Experiment 2 compared anosmic and intact groups of males exposed to an haloperidol-treated, immobile, estrous female within a group of nonestrous females. Although intact males were fully capable of identifying and copulating with the motionless estrous female, anosmic males were obviously disadvantaged as revealed by their high incidence of copulatory attempts with nonreceptive females. The results emphasize a functional duality of olfactory and nonolfactory behaviors of the female as redundant arousal and directional systems for guiding male copulatory behaviors.