CNRS UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
Dev Psychobiol. 2013 Apr;55(3):256-64. doi: 10.1002/dev.21019. Epub 2012 Feb 23.
Previous maternal deprivation experiments demonstrated that absence of maternal care impacts the behavioral development of young animals. Here we assessed the influence of the presence of a mothering hen on the spatial exploration of Japanese quail chicks, after the mothering period. Brooded and nonbrooded chicks were placed in a novel environment containing feeding troughs. The distribution of chicks and their inter-individual distances were measured during repeated tests. Brooded chicks exhibited a higher ability to disperse, thereby progressively exploiting larger surfaces and gaining access to food more easily. The fact that exploration by nonbrooded chicks was delayed suggests a deficit in their exploratory motivation and/or spatial skills. We hypothesize that brooded chicks experienced the constraint to follow the mothering hen, and to adapt to frequent reconfigurations of their environment. The lack of this variability in the environment of nonbrooded chicks could have reduced adaptability of their spatial behavior.
先前的母婴分离实验表明，母婴分离会影响幼小动物的行为发展。在这里，我们评估了在母婴期结束后，有母鸡陪伴对日本鹌鹑雏鸡空间探索的影响。被孵育和未被孵育的雏鸡被放置在一个新的环境中，其中包含饲料槽。在重复的测试中，测量了雏鸡的分布和它们之间的距离。被孵育的雏鸡表现出更高的分散能力，从而逐渐利用更大的表面并更容易获得食物。未被孵育的雏鸡的探索被延迟的事实表明它们的探索动机和/或空间技能存在缺陷。我们假设被孵育的雏鸡经历了跟随母鸡的限制，并适应了其环境的频繁重新配置。未被孵育的雏鸡所处环境缺乏这种可变性可能降低了它们空间行为的适应性。
