TY - JOUR
T1 - Exposure to calls before hatching affects the post-hatching behaviour of domestic chickens.
AU - Gall, Gabriella
AU - Letherbarrow, Megan
AU - Strandburg-Peshkin, Ariana
AU - Radford, Andrew N
AU - Madden, Joah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors.
PY - 2024/8/14
Y1 - 2024/8/14
N2 - The soundscape experienced by animals early in life can affect their behaviour later in life. For birds, sounds experienced in the egg can influence how individuals learn to respond to specific calls post-hatching. However, how early acoustic experiences affect subsequent social behaviour remains unknown. Here, we investigate how exposure to maternal ‘cluck’ calls pre-hatching affects the behaviour of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) at 3–5 days and 17–21 days old. We incubated eggs and played cluck calls to half of them. After hatching, we raised chicks in small groups occupying different enclosures. At 3–5 days old, we tested chicks’ responses to three stimuli: (i) background sound (ii) chick calls and (iii) cluck calls. We found that pre-hatching experience of cluck calls reduced the likelihood to move in response to all three stimuli. At 14–21 days old, some chicks explored beyond their own enclosure and ‘visited’ other groups. Chicks exposed to cluck calls before hatching were three times more likely to enter another group’s enclosure than control chicks, and this was unaffected by the chicks’ social connectedness. Our results indicate age- and context-dependent responses of chicks to pre-hatching cluck-call playbacks, with potential long-term effects on individual social behaviour.
AB - The soundscape experienced by animals early in life can affect their behaviour later in life. For birds, sounds experienced in the egg can influence how individuals learn to respond to specific calls post-hatching. However, how early acoustic experiences affect subsequent social behaviour remains unknown. Here, we investigate how exposure to maternal ‘cluck’ calls pre-hatching affects the behaviour of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) at 3–5 days and 17–21 days old. We incubated eggs and played cluck calls to half of them. After hatching, we raised chicks in small groups occupying different enclosures. At 3–5 days old, we tested chicks’ responses to three stimuli: (i) background sound (ii) chick calls and (iii) cluck calls. We found that pre-hatching experience of cluck calls reduced the likelihood to move in response to all three stimuli. At 14–21 days old, some chicks explored beyond their own enclosure and ‘visited’ other groups. Chicks exposed to cluck calls before hatching were three times more likely to enter another group’s enclosure than control chicks, and this was unaffected by the chicks’ social connectedness. Our results indicate age- and context-dependent responses of chicks to pre-hatching cluck-call playbacks, with potential long-term effects on individual social behaviour.
U2 - 10.1098/rsos.240114
DO - 10.1098/rsos.240114
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
C2 - 39144491
SN - 2054-5703
VL - 11
JO - Royal Society Open Science
JF - Royal Society Open Science
IS - 8
M1 - 240114
ER -