Effects of (grand)maternal social housing conditions of Japanese Quails (Coturnix Japonica) on distress vocalisations of the offspring in a social isolation experiment

Abstract

Social living conditions of female birds can have transgenerational effects. The objective of the present study on Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) is to examine whether pair-housing versus group-housing of the maternal line influences the vocal response of the offspring in social isolation. Vocalisations are assumed to be distress calls since social isolation is presumed to be a stressful event. Four test groups of the F2 generation chicks that differed in the social housing background of their mothers and grandmothers were created and subjected to an isolation test on post hatch day 2. A selection of the chicks was faced with a mirror in the second round to mimic a social stimulus to test if this could reduce their vocal response. Vocalisations were recorded and numbers of calls were automatically measured by computer software. The expectation was that group-housing of females causes a stronger reaction in offspring on separation from cage mates than pairhousing, and that mothers have more impact on that matter than grandmothers. When mothers and grandmothers experience the same social environment, the effect of the environment is thought to be stronger. The presented data show no differences in the number of vocalisations among the groups of chicks with different maternal social backgrounds under these experimental conditions, which suggests that there is no effect of the treatment on the offspring. However, conclusions should be drawn with care. It is possible that there were, in fact, effects on the offspring, but that these not could be measured in the way this experiment was set up. No final conclusion regarding the exact influence of this complex matter can therefore be drawn as of yet. Multiple factors may have infected the results of this study and therefore future research must focus on the effects these different factors.