Fearfulness Affects Quail Maternal Care and Subsequent Offspring Development

International audienceOur study investigated relationships between a precocial bird’s fearfulness and maternal care, and the implication of maternal care as a vector for non-genomic transmission of fearfulness to chicks. We compared care given to chicks between two sets of female Japanese quail selected to present either high (LTI) or low fearfulness (STI). Chicks, from a broiler line, were adopted by these females following a sensitization procedure. Chicks’ fearfulness after separation from their mother was assessed by well-established procedures. LTIs took longer to present maternal responses, pecked chicks more during the first days post-hatch, presented impaired maternal vocal behaviour and were globally less active than STI females. Chicks mothered by LTIs presented more fearful reactions than did chicks mothered by STIs, supporting the hypothesis of a non-genetic maternal transmission of fearfulness. We suggest that the longer latencies required by LTIs to become maternal are a consequence of their greater fear of chicks, and that their lower general and vocal activity could be components of a heightened antipredatory strategy. We discuss the transmission of maternal fearfulness to fostered chicks, taking into account the possible implication of several well-known mechanisms underlying maternal effects

Postnatal care generates phenotypic behavioural correlations in the Japanese quail

International audienceBehavioural phenotypes can be highly constrained by interdependent behavioural traits. Studies in different taxa showed that these behavioural phenotypic correlations are not universal within a species and can differ between populations exposed to different environmental pressures. Empirical studies are required to better understand the relative contributions of long-term adaptive processes and direct ontogenetic mechanisms in the development of these phenotypic behavioural correlations. In the present study, we investigated the role of postnatal nurturing care on the development of behavioural correlations in a precocial bird model, the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). We compared phenotypic correlations between two populations: 41 artificially reared birds (maternally deprived) and 36 birds fostered by unrelated females. Behavioural responses were measured at the age when birds naturally disperse, with three widely used behavioural tests to assess fearfulness and sociality: tonic immobility, open-field and emergence tests. Our results show that when quail chicks are reared by a foster mother, more phenotypic correlations appeared in the population including correlations within and across behavioural functions and between behavioural responses and chick mass. In contrast, chicks reared without a foster mother presented much fewer behavioural correlations and those were limited to functionally linked behaviours. Our results also highlight that the effect of mothering on phenotypic correlations is sex-specific, with a greater effect on males. We discuss the organisational role of parents on the development of behavioural correlations, the mechanisms likely to support this influence, as well as the reasons for sexual dimorphism

Age Affects the Expression of Maternal Care and Subsequent Behavioural Development of Offspring in a Precocial Bird

Variations of breeding success with age have been studied largely in iteroparous species and particularly in birds: survival of offspring increases with parental age until senescence. Nevertheless, these results are from observations of free-living individuals and therefore, it remains impossible to determine whether these variations result from parental investment or efficiency or both, and whether these variations occur during the prenatal or the postnatal stage or during both. Our study aimed first, to determine whether age had an impact on the expression of maternal breeding care by comparing inexperienced female birds of two different ages, and second, to define how these potential differences impact chicks’ growth and behavioural development. We made 22 2-month-old and 22 8-month-old female Japanese quail foster 1-day-old chicks. We observed their maternal behaviour until the chicks were 11 days old and then tested these chicks after separation from their mothers. Several behavioural tests estimated their fearfulness and their sociality. We observed first that a longer induction was required for young females to express maternal behaviour. Subsequently as many young females as elder females expressed maternal behaviour, but young females warmed chicks less, expressed less covering postures and rejected their chicks more. Chicks brooded by elder females presented higher growth rates and more fearfulness and sociality. Our results reveal that maternal investment increased with age independently of maternal experience, suggesting modification of hormone levels implied in maternal behaviour. Isolated effects of maternal experience should now be assessed in females of the same age. In addition, our results show, for first time in birds, that variations in maternal care directly induce important differences in the behavioural development of chicks. Finally, our results confirm that Japanese quail remains a great laboratory model of avian maternal behaviour and that the way we sample maternal behaviour is highly productive

Comportement maternel chez l’oiseau nidifuge

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Comportement maternel chez la caille japonaise (Coturnix c. japonica) (caractérisation, facteurs de variation et conséquences sur les jeunes)

Au cours de cette thèse, nous avons étudié les phénomènes associés à l'ontogenèse du comportement maternel d'un oiseau nidifuge : la caille japonaise Coturnix c. japonica et à l'influence de ce comportement sur le développement des jeunes. Nos nous sommes d'abord intéressés à la mise en place du comportement maternel et à sa relation avec le tempérament de l'individu. Nous avons ainsi pu mettre en évidence qu'une privation maternelle précoce comme une forte réactivité émotionnelle de la femelle induisent des déficits dans l'expression du comportement maternel. Nous avons ensuite démontré que ce comportement varie au cours de la vie reproductrice de la femelle, sous l'influence de son expérience maternelle et de son âge, permettant respectivement une amélioration de la qualité des premières interactions avec le jeune et une nette augmentation de la quantité de soins exprimés. Enfin, nous avons montré que les différences inter-individuelles dans les caractéristiques du comportement maternel se maintiennent en dépit de ces facteurs de variation. Ce résultat nous a permis de décrire, pour la première fois, des styles maternels chez l'oiseau. Nos travaux ont également permis de démontrer une influence marquée de ces réponses maternelles sur le développement des traits de tempérament des jeunes concernant leurs réponses de peur et leur "socialité".This thesis explores the ontogeny of maternal behaviour of a precocial bird: theJapanese quail, Coturnix c. japonica, and its influence on offspring development. First Iinvestigated the components of the development of this behaviour by studying the influenceof early experience and of genotype on the maternal responses expressed by females whenadult. I evidenced that a female's complete early maternal deprivation impaired the quality ofher early interactions with chicks, as did a genetically-based strong emotional reactivity. Inaddition, I demonstrated that maternal behaviour could vary during all a female's reproductivelife: first that the expression of aggressive behaviors during the first days of breeding declinedwith maternal experience and second that the quantity of maternal care she expressed duringthe whole breeding period increased with age. I demonstrated the consistency of individualdifferences over several breeding periods, and gave the first description of maternal styles inbirds. My study revealed a strong impact of maternal behaviour on the development of chicks'emotional and social temperament traits.RENNES1-BU Sciences Philo (352382102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Nongenetic inheritance in birds: transmission of behaviour from mother to offspring

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Monkeys do not show sex differences in toy preferences through their individual choices

Highlights When tested outside of their social groups, male and female rhesus macaques show no sex differences in their toy preferences. Males and females were both more likely to interact with neutral toys and “masculine” toys than with “feminine” toys and sex-ambiguous toys. When they interacted with toys, males interacted more with neutral toys than with “masculine” toys. When they interacted with the toys, females interacted more with neutral toys than with “masculine”, “feminine” or ambiguous toys. Only one between-sex difference emerged: when they interacted with it, males interacted more with the doll more than females did

Monkeys do not show sex differences in toy preferences through their individual choices.

As interest in evaluating sex differences in nonhuman animals grows, the finding that male and female monkeys have toy preferences that differ, and that parallel those documented in human children, has garnered significant attention and is leveraged as an argument in favor of a biological contribution for human sex differences. To date, however, only two studies have investigated sex differences in monkeys' toy preferences, both documenting that males prefer toys considered to be "masculine" (such as vehicles) and females prefer toys considered to be "feminine" (such as dolls). Monkeys in these studies were tested in their social groups, making it hard to determine if the sex differences reported reflect actual individual preferences or result from social dynamics present at the time of testing. Here, we assessed the preferences of 14 rhesus macaques (N = 7 males; N = 7 females) who were singly tested in a choice test with a variety of toys characterized as masculine (hard non-zoomorphic wheeled toys), feminine (zoomorphic soft toys), neutral (hard non-zoomorphic toys) and ambiguous (zoomorphic or plush vehicles) based on criteria from previous studies. Males and females showed similar preferences for neutral and "masculine" toys and preferred them (i.e., were more likely to interact with them) to "feminine" and sex-ambiguous toys. When they interacted with the toys, both males and females interacted more with neutral than with "masculine" toys. Females, but not males, interacted more with neutral and "masculine" toys than with "feminine" toys. The highest frequency of interaction for any single toy for the male monkeys was with the doll-standing is stark contrast to previous findings. Our results contrast greatly with the previous study in rhesus monkeys, as well as findings in human children, suggesting that the previously documented sex differences are likely context dependent, and question the existence of a strong biological basis to sex differences in toy preferences

Early experience with a mother influences egg composition in adulthood and offspring behaviour in the Japanese quail

International audienc

Comportement maternel et différences sexuées chez la caille

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