Acute elevation of the heat load of mother rats curtails maternal nest bouts.

Abstract

Elevation of the rate of rise of ventral, core or preoptic area temperature in mother rats while they were nesting with their offspring curtailed nest-bout duration. The naturally occurring curtailment of nest bouts that occurs in mothers caring for large pups was accompanied by an elevated rate at which maternal temperature rose over the course of a nest bout. The suggestion that nest-bout duration is thermally limited is supported.