Light exposure during incubation and social and vigilance behaviour of domestic chicks

Title
Light exposure during incubation and social and vigilance behaviour of domestic chicks
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Wichman, Anette
Freire, Rafael
Rogers, Lesley
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Psychology Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1080/13576500802440616
UNE publication id
une:5171
Abstract
Light exposure of chick eggs during a sensitive period at the end of the incubation period leads to the development of lateralised visual behaviour, and here we show that social behaviour is also influenced by this exposure. Groups of eight chicks of three types - (1) all incubated in the dark (Da), (2) all exposed to light (Li), (3) half Da and half Li (Mixed) - were tested on a range of tasks involving social competition and vigilance for a simulated predator. We confirmed a previous finding that lowest-ranking chicks in Li groups gained less access to a food bowl when they had to compete with group members than did the lowest-ranking chicks in the Da groups, and we extended this result to show that the Mixed groups performed like the Li groups. We also showed that before presentation of a novel stimulus resembling a predator, fewer of the chicks in the Da groups than in the Li and Mixed groups looked up, but during presentation of the predator more Da than Li chicks looked up. Hence, light exposure before hatching affects post-hatching social and vigilance behaviour.
Link
Citation
Laterality, 14(4), p. 381-394
ISSN
1464-0678
1357-650X
Start page
381
End page
394

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