Experience in the egg influences precocial birds later ability to cope with their environment

International audienc

Social instability in laying quail: consequences on yolk steroids and offspring's phenotype

Individual phenotypic characteristics of many species are influenced by non-genetic maternal effects. Female birds can influence the development of their offspring before birth via the yolk steroid content of their eggs. We investigated this prenatal maternal effect by analysing the influence of laying females' social environment on their eggs' hormonal content and on their offspring's development. Social instability was applied to groups of laying Japanese quail females. We evaluated the impact of this procedure on laying females, on yolk steroid levels and on the general development of chicks. Agonistic interactions were more frequent between females kept in an unstable social environment (unstable females) than between females kept in a stable social environment (stable females). Testosterone concentrations were higher in unstable females' eggs than in those of stable females. Unstable females' chicks hatched later and developed more slowly during their first weeks of life than those of stable females. The emotional reactivity of unstable females' chicks was higher than that of stable females' chicks. In conclusion, our study showed that social instability applied to laying females affected, in a non-genetic way, their offspring's development, thus stressing the fact that females' living conditions during laying can have transgenerational effects

Influence maternelle prénatale chez la caille japonaise : Effet des perturbations de l'environnement physique chez la femelle pondeuse sur la qualité hormonale de ses oeufs et le développement comportemental de ses jeunes

National audienc

Environmental enrichment modulates effects of unpredictable repeated negative stimulations in birds

International audienc

Beneficial effects of environmental enrichment on emotional reactivity of Japanese quail submitted to repeated negative stimulations

International audienc

L'enrichissement du milieu module les effets de stimulations négatives répétées et imprévisibles chez les oiseaux

National audienc

Des stimulations négatives, répétées et imprévisibles, affectent différemment le comportement des cailles selon leur sexe

National audienc

Unpredictable and repeated negative stimuli induce negative consequences on feeding behaviour in quail

International audienc