Filial imprinting has been studied extensively in precocial birds. In these
studies, inanimate objects were used as imprinting objects. Although attac
hment to the parents is common in mammals, experiments with inanimate objec
ts are rare and mostly restricted to guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). The res
ults of these studies are inconclusive. The aim of the present experiment w
as to assess whether guinea pigs can develop an attachment to inanimate obj
ects. For this purpose, 11 young guinea pig pups were taken from their moth
ers within 16 h after birth, and subsequently reared individually in the pr
esence of an inanimate object. Between 2 and 35 days of age, the pups were
submitted to preference tests as well as separation tests. Neither test pro
vided evidence of attachment during separation, the pups did not increase t
heir distress calling; moreover, pups preferred a novel object to their rea
ring object in the preference tests. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig
hts reserved.