Table 2.

Ethogram. The catalogue of maternal behaviors observed.

Ethogram
Behavior	Definition	References
Out of box	The mother had her legs out the whelping box not providing maternal cares	Current paper
Contact	The mother was lying in the whelping box with elbows on the ground and in physical contact (tail and limbs excluded) with at least one pup	[24]
Licking	The mother was licking at least one pup	Modified from [24]
Sniffing/poking	The mother was sniffing, poking, or moving at least one pup around with the nose	Modified from [24]
Retrieving	The mother was carefully carrying in her jaws at least one pup	Modified from [26]
Nursing lateral	The mother was nursing (at least one pup suckling) while lying on her side or back, so that part, or all, of her nipples were exposed	Modified from [27]
Nursing ventral	The mother was nursing (at least one pup suckling) while lying on her stomach, so that her nipples were not easily exposed to the puppies	Modified from [27]
Nursing vertical	The mother was nursing (at least one pup suckling) while standing or sitting in the whelping box	Modified from [27]
Total nursing	Nursing lateral + nursing ventral + nursing vertical; nursing positions are mutually exclusive	Modified from [24]
Other	Any activity not assessable or not included in the behavioral catalogue