Gaillard Maryline, Scriba Madeleine F, Roulin Alexandre
Biogeosciences, University of Burgundy, Dijon, France.
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Behav Processes. 2017 Jul;140:139-143. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.05.006. Epub 2017 May 5.
Behavioural laterality is a commonly observed phenomenon in many species suggesting there might be an advantage of using dominantly one side over the other for certain tasks. Indeed, lateralized individuals were often shown to be more successful in cognitive tasks compared to non-lateralized conspecifics. However, stressed individuals are also often, but not always, more strongly lateralized. Because barn owl (Tyto alba) females displaying larger black spots on the tip of their ventral feathers produce offspring that are more resistant to a variety of environmental stressful factors, we examined whether laterality is associated with melanin-based coloration. We recorded whether nestlings use more often the right or left foot to scratch their body and whether they preen more often one side of the body or the other using their bills. We found that the strength of lateralization of preening and scratching was less pronounced in individuals born from heavily spotted mothers. This result might be explained by plumage-related variation in the ability to resist stressful rearing conditions.
行为偏侧性是许多物种中普遍观察到的现象，这表明在某些任务中，优先使用一侧而非另一侧可能具有优势。事实上，与非偏侧化的同种个体相比，偏侧化个体在认知任务中往往表现得更成功。然而，受应激的个体也常常（但并非总是）表现出更强的偏侧化。由于雌性仓鸮（Tyto alba）腹部羽毛尖端有较大黑斑，其后代对各种环境应激因素的抵抗力更强，我们研究了偏侧性是否与基于黑色素的体色有关。我们记录了雏鸟是否更频繁地用右脚或左脚抓挠身体，以及它们是否更频繁地用喙梳理身体的一侧或另一侧。我们发现，来自斑点较多的母亲所生的个体，其梳理和抓挠的偏侧化程度较弱。这一结果可能是由于与羽毛相关的抵抗应激饲养条件能力的差异所致。
