Paternal behavior increases testosterone levels in offspring of the California mouse.

Paternal care during early development influences pup survivorship in the monogamous and biparental California mouse, Peromyscus californicus. Moreover, paternal pup retrievals impact development of adult offspring aggression and the neuropeptide vasopressin, yet little is known about the underlying mechanisms of these developmental changes. Because testosterone can increase arginine vasopressin and aggression, we hypothesized that paternal pup retrievals increase testosterone levels in prepubertal male P.