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Hamsters help solve the mystery of parenthood
According to Dr. Katherine Wynne-Edwards at Queen’s University, what makes a man a good father may partly be in his hormones. Funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research, Dr. Wynne Edwards has been studying hormonal changes with the help of a hamster with remarkable fathering skills. The male dwarf hamster pulls his hamster pups from the female’s birth canal and clears their airways to help them take their first breath. These doting dads will also dash from the nest to retrieve pups that go astray.
Previous studies have shown the levels of hormones, such as estrogen and prolactin, fluctuate in women during pregnancy. Dr. Wynne-Edwards and her team found that the male dwarf hamster experiences similar changes in their hormone levels. From there, a comparable study of hormone levels in men who were about to become fathers was conducted with similar findings. The dads-to-be showed higher levels of estrogen and prolactin, and lower levels of testosterone, than non-expectant men.
Dr. Wynne-Edwards emphasizes these chemical changes are only part of the story.
“We are never going to come up with a pill for a male to swallow that will make him look dotingly at the infant in his arms,” she said. Hormones alone don't make men fathers, although they may encourage parental behaviour in response to the right environmental cues.
As the research continues, Dr. Wynne-Edwards will be determining if the behaviour of the hamsters can be modified by altering their hormone levels, possibly enhancing the parenting skills of less nurturing male hamsters. These experiments could provide greater insight into how nature turns men into supportive, caring parents.
“One of the nice things about studying parental behaviour is that we're looking at a process that creates something we value as a society,” she said. “That's a nice thing to come to work to.”