Familiar male serves as a model for juvenile canaries

International audienceIn canaries, social transmission of food recognition by juveniles results from observing adult activity. By contrast, acquisition of efficient handling skills requires simultaneous access to the food source by juvenile and experienced bird. We studied the factors that enhance food recognition and consumption in young canaries when confronted with adults: gender of these adults, familiarity between adults and juveniles, investment of the pair of adults in the next clutch. The demonstrating activity of experienced adults of each sex was evaluated in the context of triadic interactions (a pair of canaries and a juvenile either familiar or not) when the juvenile had access to the food source or not. The demonstrating activity of the different categories of adults varied according to the gender, familiarity with the juvenile and incubation in adult females. The males, show increased activity in the presence of their young, while females (incubating or not) exhibit a lower level of activity in this case. The father, in contrast to the mother, actually encourages the juvenile to act when this bird access to the target. Presence of an unfamiliar juvenile (with or without access to food) has no effect on feeding activity in adult males. Access to food by unfamiliar juvenile increases feeding activity in females independently on their incubating activity. This effect appears as competition and does not facilitate food intake by juvenile. Social transmission does not depend solely of the level of familiarity between partners, but also on the role played by the demonstrator (here the adult male) that look after the juvenile during its transition toward independence. The survival of the juvenile during the transition to independence depends therefore on paternal care, as one of the roles of the familiar male is to serve as a model for the recognition and hadling of food, whereas the role of females is to invest in the next clutch. The familiar male is able to act as a model

The influence of free interactions and partner familiarity on social transmission in the young canary.

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Social transmission of food handling in the context of triadic interactions between adults and young canaries (Serinus canaria)

International audienceWe studied the factors that enhance food recognition and consumption in young canaries when confronted with adults. In contrast to previous studies on canaries in which social transmission of food habits was studied in the context of dyadic interactions (one juvenile – one adult), we proposed a more realistic framework in which young canaries were studied in the context of triadic interactions, free or not, with adults of both sexes. We found that during free interactions, the young bird only eats with a familiar male, and that this association enhances the social transmission of seed handling. When the juvenile was separated from the adults by a transparent partition, it only learned to husk seed if it was present at the feeder at the same time as a familiar adult acting as a demonstrator. The presence of adults that are familiar but do not act as demonstrators does not facilitate social transmission of handling. However, the presence of a familiar, demonstrating female had also no effect on this transmission. Coordination of the actions of the experienced bird and of the naïve subject is required for social transmission to occur. Action coordination does not depend solely on the level of familiarity between partners, but also on the role played by the demonstrator (here, the adult male) that looks after the juvenile during its transition towards independence