Ontogeny of chick responses to maternal food calls in the Burmese red junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus).

Abstract

Burmese red junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) chicks were reinforced at 5 days old with a mealworm at the end of a runaway in the presence of a maternal food call. Two food calls were used, one made to a highly preferred food item (a mealworm) and one made to a less preferred food item (chick crumbs). Chicks initially approached the food call made to the mealworm faster regardless of reinforcement contingencies, but by the 3rd day of training chicks responded faster to the call that was reinforced. These results indicate that functional experience can modify preexisting response tendencies to food-calling stimuli. We discuss the implications of these results for the interpretation of published accounts that chickens use food calls deceptively.