Social experience with siblings fosters species-specific responsiveness to maternal visual cues in bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus).

We examined the role of visual and social experience with siblings in the development of bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) chicks' preference for species-specific maternal visual cues. Chicks were reared in 1 of 4 conditions: group, isolation, partial isolation, and heterospecific group. They were tested in simultaneous choice tests with species-typical and species-atypical audiovisual stimuli. Results revealed that only subjects that were reared in a group with same-aged conspecifics preferred the visual features of a bobwhite hen model. Subjects in the other 3 conditions did not exhibit species-specific visual preference. The findings suggest that visual experience and direct social interaction with siblings facilitate the development of bobwhite chicks' species-specific responsiveness to static maternal visual cues and illustrate the important influence of experience with conspecifics in the development of early perceptual preferences.