She told the story at the natural-history museum, in late March. Montane
voles and prairie voles are so similar "that naifs like me can't tell them
apart," she told a standing-room-only audience (younger and hipper than
the museum's usual patrons—the word "neuroscience" these days is like
catnip). But prairie voles mate for life, and montane voles do not. Among
prairie voles, the males not only share parenting duties, they will even
lick and nurture pups that aren't their own. By contrast, male montane
voles do not actively parent even their own offspring. What accounts for
the difference? Researchers have found that the prairie voles, the
sociable ones, have greater numbers of oxytocin receptors in certain
regions of the brain. (And prairie voles that have had their oxytocin
receptors blocked will not pair-bond.)
"As a philosopher, I was stunned," Churchland said, archly. "I thought
that monogamous pair-bonding was something one determined for oneself,
with a high level of consideration and maybe some Kantian reasoning thrown
in. It turns out it is mediated by biology in a very real way."
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 21 June 2011 04:14 (thirteen years ago)