Mammalian fatherhood involves a muted version of the maternal experience. I
n spite of previous assumptions to the contrary, hormones influence mammali
an paternal behavior. Naturally paternal males experience dynamic changes i
n the same hormones involved in maternal behavior and these hormones have a
ccess to the same brain pathways. Men becoming fathers for the first time a
re similar to their female partners too. These recent studies are still cor
relational, but promise to illuminate maternal behavior and to biologically
validate the experiences of involved fathers.