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Horse brain scans reveal the importance of the mother-foal bond
Prolonged contact between horse foals and their mothers may be beneficial to the offspring, conferring potentially positive effects on brain structure and function, and on social development, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
In large social mammals, caregiving adults may promote the acquisition of social skills that are necessary for the survival and reproductive fitness of their offspring. For horses, it has been shown that severing this bond by weaning at approximately four to six months old can induce long-lasting negative outcomes for foals. However, the reason for these effects remains unknown.
David Barrière and colleagues conducted brain scans (including functional magnetic resonance imaging) and a combination of physiological, social, and cognitive tests on 24 domestic horse (Equus caballus) foals followed from the age of 6 to 13 months. Half of the foals had been separated from their mothers at six months of age, and the other half had remained with their mothers up to the conclusion of the experiment. The authors observed that prolonged maternal presence was associated with increased maturation in several brain regions. This included regions involved in regulating socioemotional behaviours (anterior cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex) and physiological regulation (hypothalamus and amygdala). They also found that these foals were more sociable, engaged more in positive social interactions, explored their environment more, and gained more weight (despite spending less time feeding), compared to the foals separated at six months. Physiologically, prolonged maternal presence was associated with higher concentrations of circulating lipids (triglycerides and cholesterol), and lower levels of cortisol (a hormone associated with stress).
The findings provide further evidence for delaying maternal weaning of foals under human care and position the domestic horse as a good candidate for studying caregiver-offspring relationships in large mammals.
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