1. Centre Européen des Sciences du Goût, CNRS (fre 2328), 21000 Dijon, France
2. Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Arômes, Inra, 21000 Dijon, France
3. Établissement National d'Enseignement Supérieur Agricole, 21000 Dijon, France
4. These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to: Benoist Schaal^1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to B.S. (Email: schaal@cesg.cnrs.fr).

Mammals owe part of their evolutionary success to the harmonious exchanges of information, energy and immunity between females and their offspring. This functional reciprocity is vital for the survival and normal development of infants, and for the inclusive fitness of parents^{1, 2}. It is best seen in the intense exchanges taking place around the mother's offering of, and the infant's quest for, milk. All mammalian females have evolved behavioural and sensory methods of stimulating and guiding their inexperienced newborns to their mammae, whereas newborns have coevolved means to respond to them efficiently³. Among these cues, maternal odours have repeatedly been shown to be involved^{4, 5, 6}, but the chemical identity and pheromonal nature of these cues have not been definitively characterized until now. Here we focus on the nature of an odour signal emitted by the female rabbit to which newborn pups respond by attraction and oral grasping, and provide a complete chemical and behavioural description of a pheromone of mammary origin in a mammalian species.