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Scent of a Ewe: Transmission of a Social Cue by Conspecifics Affects Sexual Performance in Male Sheep¹

^a Department of Animal Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8525

Unlike males from other domestic species, domestic rams (Ovis aries) are not sexually stimulated, as determined by measuring sexual performance, following the opportunity to watch a copulating pair. Previously, we reported that aspects of ram sexual performance were improved when rams interacted with a male conspecific that had mated an estrous ewe. Whether the cues were gender-, estrous state-, or behavior-related was tested in this study. Sexually experienced rams were exposed to male pen mates that had interacted with an estrous ewe, a non-estrous ewe, an estrous ewe with a cloth perineal patch, or a ram, or that had been placed alone in a small pen. The rams were then tested for sexual performance. Rams performed more olfactory investigative behaviors toward pen mates that had interacted with a ewe, regardless of her estrous state, than toward a pen mate that had been exposed to another male. Rams exposed to pen mates that had interacted with a ewe also had shorter postejaculatory and interejaculation intervals and subsequently achieved more ejaculations in standardized sexual performance tests. Results from this experiment confirm that male-male interactions affect sexual performance in male sheep and that olfactory cues likely account for the transfer of information among individuals.

¹ Research supported by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, project #06137.

² Correspondence: L.S. Katz, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 84 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525. FAX: 732 932 6996; katz{at}aesop.rutgers.edu

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