Maternal behaviour is modulated by prenatal stress in young bird (#657)
Maternal
behavior has a significant individual variability, as mothers take care
differently to their young based on their own breeding experience or age. In
this parent-youth system, we investigated whether the young played a role as
modulator of maternal behavior. For this, we evaluated how adoptive quail
(unstressed) raised chicks coming from stressed female (PS) or not (NPS) thank
a social stress procedure during laying, known to modify the behavior of chicks.
During breeding period, mothers showed no difference in the time spent warming.
However, mothers of PS remained closer to their chicks than NPS mothers. These
latter were more aggressive towards chicks throughout mothering. On the other
hand, PS chicks had a different behavior during breeding period with more
requests from their mother at the end. Finally, after mothering, PS and NPS
chicks showed different profiles of emotivity and sociality. Results show that
mothers respond to behavioral changes in chicks caused by prenatal stress, adapting
their own maternal behavior. Behavioral development of these chicks is in turn
influenced by maternal behavior. The mother-young relationship is a dynamic
interactive system where the young plays a significant role.