Abstract

We investigated whether the development of spatial behaviour of the domestic chicken is influenced by light exposure of the embryo, as is known to be the case for some other lateralized visual functions. Ninety-six chicks were incubated in the dark or exposed to light during the final days of incubation. Half of the chicks in each group had the experience of moving behind opaque screens from 10 to 12 days of age. The other half were given transparent screens as a control. Chicks were tested in a detour test and a rotated floor test and their dispersal in groups was observed in larger pens. In the rotated floor test, chicks that had had experience with opaque screens used distal cues significantly more often than chicks that had experience with transparent screens (P=0.042). regardless of whether they had been exposed to light before hatching or incubated in the dark. There were no significant differences between treatments in the detour test or in the dispersal behaviour. Hence, visual lateralization has no influence on the development of the spatial behaviour that we tested, whereas the occlusion experience is quite specific and results in shifted attention to distal spatial cues. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Domestic chick; Group dispersal; Lateralization; Rearing experience; Sensitive period; Spatial ability

Published in

Behavioural Processes
2009, Volume: 81, number: 1, pages: 14-19
Publisher: Elsevier

SLU Authors

• Wichman, Anette

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2008.12.006

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/26991