Sex effect in mutual olfactory relationships of individually caged rabbits

Abstract

To assess the sex influence on sniffing behavior of rabbits, sets of three rabbits each were located for seven days in contiguous cages divided by a metal wall with holes that prevented the neighboring rabbits to see each other. A buck was located in the central cage, with a doe at each side. Rabbit behavior was video recorded to observe animals sniffing with the muzzle near the wall. The bucks displayed an olfactory preference towards one of the two does, which decreased in few days. The significance was p < 0.01 for the first three days, it lowered to p < 0.05 in the next three days and from the seventh, it turned insignificant (p > 0.05). The interest of bucks towards the does was also characterized by a frenetic scratching of the separation wall, contemporary with intense sniffing, displayed only for the first 35 min of the first day. The sniffing behavior of does at the central cage housing the male was not so marked as in bucks, and it progressively changed across the trial (p < 0.01). In conclusion, rabbits establish a transitory sex-oriented olfactory relationship with the conspecifics housed in contiguous cages, which looks no longer necessary once the rabbits have recognized each other.