INVESTIGADORES
MARIN Raul Hector
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
A new early behavioural indicator of underlying sociality and fearfulness in Japanese quail.
Autor/es:
GUZMAN D. A.; MARIN R. H.
Lugar:
Uppsala
Reunión:
Congreso; IX European Symposium of Poultry Welfare.; 2013
Institución organizadora:
World Poultry Science Association
Resumen:
One challenge faced by ethologists in poultry welfare is to help
birds to form functionally successful groups over time through the expression
of their social behaviours. Searching for phenotypic variability, we developed a test, the density-related permanence
(DRP) that enables usto classify young birds (while in groups) according to theirindividual permanence in proximity to either a high or
low density of conspecifics (HD
or LD, respectively). The present study
addressed the question of whether contrasting DRP quail behaviours reflect
underlying differences in sociality and/or fearfulness. The classification apparatus consisted of 2 boxes
interconnected by a central region delimited by 2 sliding doors. Each box
contained at its distal end either 12 or 3 conspecifics confined behind a
glass. At 11 days of age and every 1h, the sliding doors were closed and
experimental birds (36) were identified and released back in the central region
of the device. According to where they were found (box containing high-density,
low-density or in the central region)
each bird received a 1, -1 or a 0 score, respectively. The procedure was
repeated 9 times and the scores summed. A total of 271 and 330 birds with final values ≥3
or ≤-3 were respectively categorized as HD or LD. After 1 to 4 weeks,
categorized birds underwent one of the following tests: home-cage and
resident/intruder behaviour, open field (OF), tonic immobility (TI) or plasma
corticosterone (CORT) response
to potential stressors. One-way
ANOVAs showed that LD vs. HD groups of 6 birds of the same category presented
higher levels of agonistic interactions among cagemates (P≤0.05) and
towards individual intruders (P≤0.05). Two-way ANOVA showed that birds introduced
5-min in LD groups presented higher (P≤0.01) CORT levels than undisturbed controls, whereas
intruders in HD groups did not. ANOVAs also showed
that HD compared to
LD quail walked more, faster and a
greater distance in the OF (P≤0.05,
≤0.01 and ≤0.01, respectively), presented lower CORT levels after 10-min restraint (P≤0.05), and required more inductions
and developed shorter TI responses (P≤0.01
and 0.05, respectively). The bird´s response to the DRPtest could be considered a consequence of their
differential capacity to interact with conspecifics and their environment
suggesting HD and LD underlying differences in sociality and
fearfulness.