Behavioural development is a complex phenomenon involving interactions between genetic constraints and environmental influences. One of the most potent environmental influences during the ontogeny of the behavioural characteristics of young is played by mothers. In particular, mammalian mothers modulate the social competences of their young, influencing all their future social life. Here, we investigated the influence of the social characteristics of adoptive mother birds (Coturnix coturnix japonica) on the social motivation (origin of every social relationship) of the young they reared. We characterized the social behaviour of standard stock chicks reared by female quail, genetically selected either for low (LSR) or high (HSR) levels of social reinstatement (index of treadmill behaviour which combined the tendency to run towards conspecifics with the tendency to move away from them), to investigate epigenetic transmission of social motivation. Our results show that HSR and LSR adoptive mothers partially transmitted their social characteristics to their young: chicks reared by HSR females presented higher levels of social motivation than chicks reared by LSR females. This maternal influence appeared much clearer in young males than in young females. Our study reveals that, as in mammals, bird mothers influence epigenetically the development of the social behaviour of their young.
Development involves interactions between genetic and environmental influences. Vertebrate mothers are generally the first individuals to encounter and interact with young animals. Thus, their role is primordial during ontogeny. The present study evaluated non-genomic effects of mothers on the development of rhythms of precocial Japanese quail (Coturnix c. japonica). First, we investigated the influence of mothering on the ontogeny of endogenous rhythms of young. We compared circadian and ultradian rhythms of feeding activity of quail reared with or without adoptive mothers. More brooded than non-brooded quail presented a circadian and/or an ultradian rhythm. Thus, the presence of the mother during the normal brooding period favors, in the long term, expression of rhythms in the young. Second, we investigated the influence of rhythmic phenotype of the mother on the development of endogenous rhythms of young by comparing quail brooded by circadian-rhythmic adoptive mothers (R) to quail brooded by circadian-arrhythmic adoptive mothers (A). More R-brooded than A-brooded quail expressed circadian rhythmicity, and circadian rhythm clarities were greater in R-brooded than A-brooded quail. Ultradian rhythmicity did not differ between R- and A-brooded quail, nor between R and A adoptive mothers. Thus, the rhythmic phenotypes of quail mothers influence the rhythmic phenotypes of their young. Our results demonstrate that mothers of precocial birds influence epigenetically the ontogeny of endogenous rhythms of the young they raise.
An animal's emotional responses are the result of its cognitive appraisal of a situation. This appraisal is notably influenced by the possibility of an individual to exert control over an aversive event. Although the fact that environment controllability decreases emotional responses in animals is well established, far less is known about its potential trans-generational effects. As the levels of avian yolk hormones can vary according to the mother's environment, we hypothesized that housing environment of mothers would modulate the quality of her eggs and in turn her offspring's behaviour. Two groups of female Japanese quail were constituted: a group that had access to a place to hide in their home-cage (Hd, n = 20) and a group that had nowhere to hide (NoHd, n = 20) when stressed. Both groups were submitted to daily human disturbances for a twenty-day-period. Hd females produced eggs with both less testosterone and androstenedione than did NoHd females. The emotional and social reactivity of Hd females' offspring were lower and their growth was slower than those of NoHd females' offspring. Our results show that a minor difference in housing environment had substantial effects on eggs and offspring. The presence of a shelter probably helped quail to cope with daily human disturbances, producing less reactive offspring. This transgenerational effect caused by an opportunity to hide could lead to applications in care of laboratory animals, conservation biology and animal welfare.
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