In a study published by the British journal Nature, the team engineered female lab mice so that the rodents lacked

This tiny organ in the nose is packed with receptor cells that pick up pheromones - primitive scents that trigger aggression and sexual responses in land-dwelling vertebrates.

the mutant female mice behaved like men at a Seventies disco night.

They sniffed and ran after females, flounced their pelvises, mounted and thrust at male mice, issuing ultrasonic squeaks of the kind that males emit to show lurv.

for the mutant mother mice, it was party time.

Just two days after giving birth, they started to wander away from the nest and eventually abandoned the babies altogether and when a male showed up, they were docile and receptive to courtship.

Usually, female mice spend around 80 per cent of their time in their nest nursing their newborns and while lactating will attack male intruders and reject any attempt at a cuddle