Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of video presentations of natural landscapes on European starlings' (Sturnus vulgaris) stereotypic behaviours (SBs) and other abnormal repetitive behaviours (ARBs) and to evaluate the impact of past experience by comparing wild-caught and hand-reared starlings' reactions. Ten wild-caught and five hand-reared starlings were presented 1-hour videos of landscapes twice a day for five successive days, while a control group of eight wild-caught and four hand-reared starlings was presented a grey screen for the same amount of time. The analysis of the starlings' behaviour revealed that the video presentations of landscapes appeared to have a positive but limited and experience-dependent effect on starlings' SBs and other ARBs compared to the controls. Indeed, whereas video presentations seemed to modulate high rates of SBs and ARBs, they did not appear to be enriching enough to prevent the emergence or the development of SBs and ARBs in an impoverished environment. They even appeared to promote a particular type of SB (somersaulting) that is thought to be linked to escape motivation. The fact that this effect was observed in hand-reared starlings suggests that videos of landscapes could elicit motivation to escape even in birds that never experienced outdoor life. These results highlight the importance of investigating stereotypic behaviour both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to provide crucial clues on animal welfare.
Highlights
Captivity generally offers restricted living conditions that can, over time, lead to welfare problems [1,2]
The use of human-created artificial stimuli, such as music (e.g. [6,7]) or video/television (e.g. [8,9,10]), has been found to be relatively efficient environmental enrichments for some mammal species. Both chicks and hens appear to be attracted to video images [12,13], and regular exposure of chicks to video stimulations can reduce their fear of a novel environment [14]
All subjects but two exhibited stereotypic behaviours (SBs) and abnormal repetitive behaviours (ARBs), interindividual variations were important in both groups (Table 1)
Summary
Captivity generally offers restricted living conditions that can, over time, lead to welfare problems [1,2]. Strategies such as restoring appropriate environmental, social or feeding conditions have been developed to deal with these welfare problems [8,9,10]), has been found to be relatively efficient environmental enrichments for some mammal species (for a review, see [11]) Both chicks and hens appear to be attracted to video images [12,13], and regular exposure of chicks to video stimulations can reduce their fear of a novel environment [14]. In European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, the most common SB is somersaulting This behaviour is thought to develop from thwarted escape attempts that become chronic [19,20,22]. SBs and other ARBs differ according to starlings’ previous experience: wild-caught starlings are more likely to develop ARBs than hand-reared starlings are [23,24]
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