**5. Conclusions**

Pup-related odor cues are critical for the onset and maintenance of mammalian paternal care. However, there are numerous genetic mechanisms underlying the detection, recognition and discrimination of rodent pups, which suggests complex modulation of paternal care behaviors. In this review, I discussed 10 genes that have been implicated in the regulation of paternal care via pup-related olfactory cues in rodents. There are likely many more. That paternal care is likely under multisensory control further complicates our understanding of the direct effects of olfactory genes on the regulation of paternal care behaviors. Since much of our current understanding of the genetic regulation of paternal care via olfaction in rodents comes from studies of laboratory mice, future studies should begin to explore what role, if any, these genes play in the regulation and expression of paternal care in naturally biparental species, such as prairie voles and Djungarian hamsters.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding. Thanks to James Cook University for administrative support.

**Acknowledgments:** Special thanks to David Wilson and Misha Rowell for proof-reading and providing constructive criticism. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer who provided constructive and insightful feedback on the manuscript.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
