Can male decorticate rats copulate?

28 hooded sexually experienced or naive male rats, subjected to neocortex removal or neocortex plus hippocampus removal, were paired with female rats for up to 180 days and compared with 14 control rats with respect to success and latency to impregnate the female. All of the controls and half of the brain-damaged Ss successfully impregnated females at least once. Success was not correlated with lesion type or presurgical experience. The brain-damaged Ss took longer to impregnate the females than did controls. Since the ablations were extensive, more than 95% of the neocortex in many Ss, results show that decorticate rats can copulate. Presumably the intact subcortical structures are sufficient for male copulation, but cortical structures in some way facilitate rapid female impregnation. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)