OPERANT CONTROL OF THE THERMAL ENVIRONMENT AND LEARNING TIME OF YOUNG CHICKS AND PIGLETS

Abstract

Eight-day-old chicks and newly weaned piglets were used in 56 and 32 groups respectively, involving operant procedures. In each group, six chicks and six piglets were placed in a chamber adapted for the particular species and equipped with a microswitch whereby the animals could activate heat lamps. The time required for the animals to reach the criterion of learning to control the operation of the heat lamps varied from 1 h to 25 h with a mean of 7.38 h (SD 7.12 h) for the chicks, and from 1 h to 22 h with a mean of 4.4 h (SD 3.79 h) for the piglets. Failure to reach the learning criterion within 25 h occurred in five groups of chicks out of 56 and two groups of piglets out of 32. Seventy-five percent of the groups of chickens learned within 12 h while 84% of the groups of piglets learned within the first 6 h. Key words: Operant, thermoregulation, chicks, piglets, learning