Parental care is crucial for the survival and development of offspring in altricial mammalian species. While maternal behavior in postpartum females is already well understood, the neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of maternal behavior without prior experience still remains unclear. In this project we aimed to understand and decipher the individual key mechanism underlying this ability.We could demonstrate that virgin females can rapidly develop maternal care behavior upon first-time pup exposure, and that this process is initiated by the activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Further analysis revealed that the ACC activity relies on feedback excitation from Vglut2+/Galanin+ neurons in the centrolateral nucleus of the thalamus (CL). Through chemogenetic manipulation of ACC neurons, we were able to modulate the display of maternal behavior exclusively in virgin females, but not mothers, suggesting a causal link between ACC-CL connectivity and parenting behavior initiation.The results highlight the ACC-CL neurocircuit as an accessory loop for the manifestation of innate maternal behaviors in naive virgin females, providing insights into the flexible nature of parental care acquisition. The study contributes to our understanding of the neural basis of parental care, with potential implications for conditions such as postpartum depression and the therapeutic improvement of mother-child interactions.Funding: FWF Projekt P 34281