The effects of embryonic exposure to pheasant vocalizations in later call identification by chicks

Abstract

Pheasant chicks exposed la cock attraction cluck calls during the final week of incubation had a significant affinity for that call when tested as chicks. No particular day during incubation was more important than any other for the sound input to produce this affinity. However, a cumulative input over several days produced a stronger effect than any single day of sound exposure.Exposure of embryos to alarm calls produced the same sort of affinity for that sound as was produced by the attraction call. In each case, control chicks, not exposed to sounds as embryos, had a significantly lower affinity for any given sound than treated birds. The importance of the various auditory aspects of pheasant communication as well as interpretation of the meaning of vocalizations is determined during late embryonic development. Social attachments apparently develop auditorially first, with visual associations occurring later in maturational development.