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Houdelier C, Charrier M, Le Bot O, Aigueperse N, Marasco V, Lumineau S. The presence of a mother counteracts prenatal stress in a precocial bird. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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2
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Lonstein JS, Charlier TD, Pawluski JL, Aigueperse N, Meurisse M, Lévy F, Lumineau S. Fos expression in the medial preoptic area and nucleus accumbens of female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) after maternal induction and interaction with chicks. Physiol Behav 2021; 234:113357. [PMID: 33582165 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The neural system underlying maternal caregiving has often been studied using laboratory rodents and a few other mammalian species. This research shows that the medial preoptic area (mPOA) integrates sensory cues from the young that, along with hormonal and other environmental signals, control maternal acceptance of neonates. The mPOA then activates the mesolimbic system to drive maternal motivation and caregiving activities. How components of this neural system respond to maternal experience and exposure to young in non-mammals has rarely been examined. To gain more insight into this question, virgin female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were induced to be maternal through four days of continuous exposure to chicks (Maternal), or were not exposed to chicks (Non-Maternal). Chicks were removed overnight from the Maternal group and half the females from each group were then exposed to chicks for 90 minutes (Exposed), or not exposed to chicks (Non-Exposed), before euthanasia. The number of Fos-immunoreactive (Fos-ir) cells was examined as a marker of neuronal activation. As expected, repeated exposure to chicks induced caregiving behavior in the Maternal females, which persisted after the overnight separation, suggesting the formation of a maternal memory. In contrast, Non-Maternal females were aggressive and rejected the chicks when exposed to them. Exposed females, whether or not they were given prior experience with chicks (i.e., regardless if they accepted or rejected chicks during the exposure before euthanasia), had more Fos-ir cells in the mPOA compared to Non-Exposed females. In the nucleus accumbens (NAC), the number of Fos-ir cells was high in all Maternal females whether or not they were Exposed to chicks again before euthanasia. In the lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, a site involved in general stress responding, groups did not differ in the number of Fos-ir cells. These data indicate a conserved role for the mPOA and NAC in maternal caregiving across vertebrates, with the mPOA acutely responding to the salience rather than valence of offspring cues, and the NAC showing longer-term changes in activity after a positive maternal experience even without a recent exposure to young.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph S Lonstein
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States.
| | - Thierry D Charlier
- Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de Recherche en Santé, Environnement et Travail), UMR_S 1085, Rennes, France
| | - Jodi L Pawluski
- Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de Recherche en Santé, Environnement et Travail), UMR_S 1085, Rennes, France
| | - Nadege Aigueperse
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000 Rennes, France
| | - Maryse Meurisse
- Unité de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportemenst (PRC), INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
| | - Frédéric Lévy
- Unité de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportemenst (PRC), INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, EthoS (Éthologie animale et humaine) - UMR 6552, F-35000 Rennes, France
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Aigueperse N, Houdelier C, Nicolle C, Lumineau S. Mothers provide similar care to related and unrelated chicks in quail. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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4
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Chicks from stressed females elicit overprotective behaviour in adoptive mother quail. Behav Processes 2020; 179:104193. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Revised: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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5
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Lumineau S, Pawluski JL, Charlier TD, Beylard A, Aigueperse N, Bertin A, Lévy F. High social motivation induces deficits in maternal behaviour but not plasticity of the subventricular zone in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). J Neuroendocrinol 2019; 31:e12716. [PMID: 30927275 DOI: 10.1111/jne.12716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Revised: 03/15/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Maternal behaviour develops differently depending on the characteristics of an individual, such as age or emotional reactivity. Social motivation, defined as the propensity to establish social contact, has received little attention in relation to maternal behaviour in birds. In addition, the transition to motherhood is a time of plasticity in the brain of the new mother in mammals. However, it remains to be determined how maternal brain plasticity is affected in avian species. The present study investigated how a the social motivation of a mother alters maternal behaviour and brain plasticity of the Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Adult females from lines selected for high and low social motivation were exposed to chicks for 11 days. After maternal care testing, and at matched time points in controls, the brains of females were perfused for assessment of doublecortin-immunoreactive staining, a marker of neurogenesis, in the subventricular zone (SVZ), a neurogenic niche. The results obtained showed that high socially motivated female quail spent significantly less time performing maternal behaviour when exposed to chicks compared to low socially motivated females. Moreover, the warming of chicks by high socially motivated females involved less covering postures and mothers were more rejecting of chicks. Interestingly, the plasticity indicators in the SVZ did not differ between low and high socially motivated females and were not associated with differences in maternal caregiving when using doublecortin-immunoreactive staining. Thus, high social motivation in this avian species does not favour maternal behaviour and this level of motivation to the mother is not related to changes in neuroplasticity in the SVZ of the female quail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Lumineau
- CNRS, Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, Rennes, France
| | - Jodi L Pawluski
- Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, Univ Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - Thierry D Charlier
- Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, Univ Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - Amandine Beylard
- CNRS, Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, Rennes, France
| | - Nadège Aigueperse
- CNRS, Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), UMR 6552, Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, Rennes, France
| | - Aline Bertin
- Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, Univ Rennes, Rennes, France
- INRA, UMR 85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, CNRS, UMR 7247, IFCE, Université F. Rabelais, Nouzilly, France
| | - Frédéric Lévy
- Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail) - UMR_S 1085, Univ Rennes, Rennes, France
- INRA, UMR 85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, CNRS, UMR 7247, IFCE, Université F. Rabelais, Nouzilly, France
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Pittet F, Tyson C, Herrington JA, Houdelier C, Lumineau S. Postnatal care generates phenotypic behavioural correlations in the Japanese quail. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2735-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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Hewlett SE, Nordquist RE. Effects of Maternal Care During Rearing in White Leghorn and Brown Nick Layer Hens on Cognition, Sociality and Fear. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9070454. [PMID: 31323729 PMCID: PMC6680883 DOI: 10.3390/ani9070454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Accepted: 07/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Both genetic background and maternal care can have a strong influence on cognitive and emotional development. To investigate these effects and their possible interaction, White Leghorn (LH) and Brown Nick (BN) chicks, two hybrid lines of layer hen commonly used commercially, were housed either with or without a mother hen in their first five weeks of life. From three weeks of age, the chicks were tested in a series of experiments to deduce the effects of breed and maternal care on their fear response, foraging and social motivation, and cognitive abilities. The LH were found to explore more and showed more attempts to reinstate social contact than BN. The BN were less active in all tests and less motivated than LH by social contact or by foraging opportunity. No hybrid differences were found in cognitive performance in the holeboard task. In general, the presence of a mother hen had unexpectedly little effect on behavior in both LH and BN chicks. It is hypothesized that hens from commercially used genetic backgrounds may have been inadvertently selected to be less responsive to maternal care than ancestral or non-commercial breeds. The consistent and strong behavioral differences between genetic strains highlights the importance of breed-specific welfare management processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susie E Hewlett
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Rebecca E Nordquist
- Behavior and Welfare in Farm Animals Research Group, Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, 3584CL Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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Aigueperse N, Houdelier C, Nicolle C, Lumineau S. Mother-chick interactions are affected by chicks' sex and brood composition in Japanese quail. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 61:832-842. [PMID: 30895607 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Sex is a trait which leads mothers to invest asymmetrically in their young, especially in species with a strong dimorphism. Authors usually consider that members of the largest sex require the most investment by mothers. In other cases, mothers care preferentially for members of the sex that increase their fitness, e.g. males, in numerous species. In quail, a precocial bird, mother seems to take more care of their males which are more sensitive to their separation. This study investigates the influence of chicks' sex and brood's sexual composition on the maternal behavior of quail. We evaluated three batches of mothers, composed of (a) unisex broods of males (MM), (b) unisex broods of females (FF), and (c) mixed sex broods (Mx). We recorded mother-chick interactions during 11 days of mothering. We found that MM mothers spent more time warming their chicks and FF mothers were more active. Moreover, females rejected more aggressively and earlier their female chicks than their male chicks. Finally, Mx chicks, whatever their sex, interacted more with their mothers. Our results highlight a greater quantity and quality of maternal care towards male. Mothers invest more in male chicks. We discussed results in terms of each sex's needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadège Aigueperse
- Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Cécilia Houdelier
- Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Céline Nicolle
- Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Rennes, France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- Ethos (Ethologie animale et humaine), Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Rennes, France
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Wischhoff U, Marques-Santos F, Manica LT, Roper JJ, Rodrigues M. Parenting styles in white-rumped swallows (Tachycineta leucorrhoa) show a trade-off between nest defense and chick feeding. Ethology 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Uschi Wischhoff
- Pós-graduação em Ecologia; Conservação e Manejo de Vida Silvestre; Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Belo Horizonte Brazil
| | - Fernando Marques-Santos
- Pós-graduação em Ecologia; Conservação e Manejo de Vida Silvestre; Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Belo Horizonte Brazil
| | - Lilian T. Manica
- Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; Curitiba Brazil
| | - James J. Roper
- Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação; Universidade Federal do Paraná; Curitiba Brazil
| | - Marcos Rodrigues
- Departamento de Zoologia; Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Belo Horizonte Brazil
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Aigueperse N, Pittet F, Nicolle C, Houdelier C, Lumineau S. Maternal care affects chicks' development differently according to sex in quail. Dev Psychobiol 2018; 60:1048-1056. [PMID: 29344942 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2017] [Revised: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Maternal behavior is known to influence the behavioral development of young. Recently, it was demonstrated that maternal behavior also differed according to sex of chicks and brood sex composition. So, here, we explored if these factors influenced behavioral development of quail chicks when they were brooded, and what characteristics of chicks and foster females could best explain this development. We studied three sets of chick pairs brooded by foster females: unisex male, unisex female, and mixed broods. We found that both emotivity profile and sociality depended on the sex: females were more reactive and less social than males. Females' emotivity profile was correlated with brood composition and foster female activity during maternal care. In males, only sociality was correlated with foster females' scores of aggressive rejection. Our results evidence that male and female chicks respond differentially to maternal behavior. This is discussed in terms of ecological and physiological constraints on development according to sex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadège Aigueperse
- Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France.,CNRS, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France
| | - Florent Pittet
- Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France.,CNRS, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France
| | - Céline Nicolle
- Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France.,CNRS, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France
| | - Cécilia Houdelier
- Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France.,CNRS, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- Université de Rennes 1, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France.,CNRS, UMR 6552 Ethologie Animale et Humaine, Rennes, France
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11
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Aigueperse N, Pittet F, de Margerie E, Nicolle C, Houdelier C, Lumineau S. Brood size can influence maternal behaviour and chick’s development in precocial birds. Behav Processes 2017; 138:96-104. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Revised: 02/18/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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12
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Bray EE, Sammel MD, Cheney DL, Serpell JA, Seyfarth RM. Characterizing Early Maternal Style in a Population of Guide Dogs. Front Psychol 2017; 8:175. [PMID: 28239365 PMCID: PMC5301023 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In both humans and non-humans, differences in maternal style during the first few weeks of life can be reliably characterized, and these differences affect offspring's temperament and cognition in later life. Drawing on the breeding population of dogs at The Seeing Eye, a guide dog school in Morristown, New Jersey, we conducted videotaped focal follows on 21 mothers and their litters (n = 138 puppies) over the first 3 weeks of the puppies' lives in an effort to characterize maternal style. We found that a mother's attitude and actions toward her offspring varied naturally between individuals, and that these variations could be summarized by a single principal component, which we described as Maternal behavior. This component was stable across weeks, associated with breed, litter size, and parity, but not redundant with these attributes. Furthermore, this component was significantly associated with an independent experimental measure of maternal behavior, and with maternal stress as measured by salivary cortisol. In summary, Maternal behavior captured a significant proportion of the variation in maternal style; was stable over time; and had both discriminant and predictive validity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily E. Bray
- Department of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA
| | - Mary D. Sammel
- Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA
| | - Dorothy L. Cheney
- Department of Biology, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA
| | - James A. Serpell
- Department of Clinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA
| | - Robert M. Seyfarth
- Department of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA, USA
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Pittet F, Babb JA, Carini L, Nephew BC. Chronic social instability in adult female rats alters social behavior, maternal aggression and offspring development. Dev Psychobiol 2017; 59:291-302. [PMID: 28138966 DOI: 10.1002/dev.21491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2015] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the consequences of chronic social instability (CSI) during adulthood on social and maternal behavior in females and social behavior of their offspring in a rat model. CSI consisted of changing the social partners of adult females every 2-3 days for 28 days, 2 weeks prior to mating. Females exposed to CSI behaved less aggressively and more pro-socially towards unfamiliar female intruders. Maternal care was not affected by CSI in a standard testing environment, but maternal behavior of CSI females was less disrupted by a male intruder. CSI females were quicker to attack prey and did not differ from control females in their saccharin consumption indicating, respectively, no stress-induced sensory-motor or reward system impairments. Offspring of CSI females exhibited slower growth and expressed more anxiety in social encounters. This study demonstrates continued adult vulnerability to social challenges with an impact specific to social situations for mothers and offspring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Pittet
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts
| | - Jessica A Babb
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts.,Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Lindsay Carini
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts
| | - Benjamin C Nephew
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University: Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, Massachusetts
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Jolly L, Pittet F, Caudal JP, Mouret JB, Houdelier C, Lumineau S, de Margerie E. Animal-to-robot social attachment: initial requisites in a gallinaceous bird. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2016; 11:016007. [PMID: 26845286 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/11/1/016007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Animal-Robot Interaction experiments have demonstrated their usefulness to understand the social behaviour of a growing number of animal species. In order to study the mechanisms of social influences (from parents and peers) on behavioural development, we design an experimental setup where young quail chicks, after hatching, continuously live with autonomous mobile robots in mixed triadic groups of two chicks and one robot. As precocial birds are subject to imprinting, we compare groups where chicks meet the robot as their very first social partner, on their first day after hatching (R chicks), with groups where chicks meet a real conspecific first (C chicks), and the robot later (on the second day after hatching). We measured the behavioural synchronization between chicks and robot over three days. Afterwards, we directly tested the existence of a possible social bond between animal and robot, by performing separation-reunion behavioural tests. R chicks were more synchronized with the robot in their daily feeding-resting activities than C chicks. Moreover, R chicks emitted numerous distress calls when separated from the robot, even in the presence of another chick, whereas C chicks emitted calls only when separated from the other chick. Whether the observed chick-robot attachment bond reflects filial, or sibling-imprinting of chicks towards the robot remains unclear, as the latter process is not fully understood in natural familial groups. Still, these results reveal the necessary initial conditions for stable, cohesive mixed groups of chicks and robots, a promising tool to experiment on the long-term dynamics of social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Jolly
- Université Rennes 1, Laboratoire d'Ethologie Animale et Humaine, UMR n° 6552, Rennes, F-35000, France
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Pittet F, Houdelier C, Le Bot O, Leterrier C, Lumineau S. Fearfulness affects quail maternal care and subsequent offspring development. PLoS One 2014; 9:e102800. [PMID: 25033292 PMCID: PMC4102550 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2014] [Accepted: 06/06/2014] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Our 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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Pittet
- Université Rennes 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6552 « Ethos », Rennes, France
| | - Cécilia Houdelier
- Université Rennes 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6552 « Ethos », Rennes, France
| | - Océane Le Bot
- Université Rennes 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6552 « Ethos », Rennes, France
| | - Christine Leterrier
- Institut National de la Recharche Agronomique, Unité mixte de Recherche 85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, Nouzilly, France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- Université Rennes 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6552 « Ethos », Rennes, France
- * E-mail:
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Pittet F, Houdelier C, Lumineau S. Precocial bird mothers shape sex differences in the behavior of their chicks. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014; 321:265-75. [PMID: 24616263 DOI: 10.1002/jez.1858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2013] [Revised: 02/18/2014] [Accepted: 02/18/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Florent Pittet
- UMR CNRS 6552 “Ethologie Animale et Humaine”; Université de Rennes I; Rennes France
| | - Cécilia Houdelier
- UMR CNRS 6552 “Ethologie Animale et Humaine”; Université de Rennes I; Rennes France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- UMR CNRS 6552 “Ethologie Animale et Humaine”; Université de Rennes I; Rennes France
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18
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Le Bot O, Lumineau S, de Margerie E, Pittet F, Trabalon M, Houdelier C. Long-life partners or sex friends? Impact of parental pair bond on offspring personality. J Exp Biol 2014; 217:4184-92. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.108738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Previous investigations reported that some traits of parental relationships, including pair-bond duration or mate behavioural compatibility, influence subsequent offspring fitness by acting on their behaviour, growth and thus their early survival. We hypothesized that the development of a pair-bond between sexual partners would have a prenatal influence. This study investigated the impact of two pairing managements on the egg characteristics and development of offspring of Japanese quail (Coturnix c. japonica). Thirty males and 30 females were paired either continuously (C) (mates together all the time) or non-continuously (NC) (pairs met only three times a week for five minutes). Separation-reunion tests evaluated parental pair bond. Egg yolk testosterone and androstenedione levels were evaluated, and the somatic and behavioural development of C and NC chicks was assessed. Our results revealed that members of C pairs were attached to their mates and, although no significant differences in androgen levels could be evidenced between egg sets, a higher proportion of C pairs' eggs were fertilized and their chicks appeared less emotive and more social. Our results revealed that parental relationship can modulate the behavioural development of their offspring, probably via non-genetic effects, and this could play a major role in the emergence of inter-individual variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Océane Le Bot
- University of Rennes, Laboratory of Animal and Human Ethology, France
| | - Sophie Lumineau
- University of Rennes, Laboratory of Animal and Human Ethology, France
| | | | - Florent Pittet
- University of Rennes, Laboratory of Animal and Human Ethology, France
| | - Marie Trabalon
- University of Rennes, Laboratory of Animal and Human Ethology, France
| | - Cécilia Houdelier
- University of Rennes, Laboratory of Animal and Human Ethology, France
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