TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN RABBITS AS DETERMINED BY AN AUTOMATIC RECORDING TECHNIQUE1
- 1 March 1967
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
- Vol. 10 (2), 219-231
- https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1967.10-219
Abstract
Sexual behavior between rabbits was automatically recorded by means of electrodes attached externally to the unrestrained animals. Current flowed only when the animals came into physical contact; the duration and amplitude of the current flow provided a means of automatic differentiation between sexual and other types of physical contact. Various temporal aspects of sexual behavior were revealed: (1) copulation was preceded by a series of thrusts that occurred at a constant frequency of 13 to 14 thrusts per sec; (2) the duration of a copulation was about 1.5 sec and could be as brief as 0.3 sec; (3) copulation was much more likely during the hours between dusk and dawn despite constant illumination; (4) copulations occurred in groups or “runs” characterized by many copulations within a few hours; (5) each run began with a high rate of copulation that often decreased over time; (6) between runs, several hours or days passed with little or no sexual activity; and (7) a run of copulations was noted at the end of every 16-to 20-day period (which corresponds to the known period of pseudopregnancy in rabbits) whether or not other runs occurred within this period.This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
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