Scientists find genetic 'switch' in mice that turns caring dads into violent brutes

One large brown and black striped mouse huddles next to two smaller brown and black striped mice against a white background.

Flipping a single genetic switch can make doting dads attack their offspring, at least in African striped mice, new research suggests. But the gene itself wasn't solely responsible for this switch from attentive to aggressive fathering; social conditions also played a role in how the male mice behaved.

The findings could reveal more about the genetic mechanisms that lead some species of mammals to act as caring fathers while others abandon their young. Active fathering is rare in mammals, with only 5% of the 6,000 mammalian species having involved dads. Because of this, scientists know far less about how paternal care works in mammals than they know about maternal care in mammals. African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) are useful for studying mammalian paternal care because males show a wide range of behaviors toward pups, from huddling to keep pups warm to actively ignoring their progeny.