Male copulatory behavior and female maternal behavior in neonatally bulbectomized rats

Olfactory bulbs were destroyed in six-day-old male and female rats, and anosmia was confirmed in adulthood. Bulbectomized males initiated apparently normal sexual activity at the same age as did control animals. As virgins, bulbectomized females did not injure foster young; when allowed to mate and deliver young, they displayed apparently normal maternal behavior. It was concluded that neonatal olfactory bulbectomy does not preclude the development of essentially normal copulatory behavior in the male rat and maternal behavior in the female rat.