THE MATERNAL FEEDING DISPLAY OF DOMESTIC HENS IS SENSITIVE TO PERCEIVED CHICK ERROR

An animal can be said to teach if, at some cost or at least without ob taining an immediate benefit for itself, it modifies its behaviour in the presence of a naive observer, such that the observer acquires a sk ill more efficiently than it might otherwise do. An important theoreti cal issue is the extent to which the demonstrator's behaviour is sensi tive to the improving skill level of the observer. This study determin ed whether domestic hens, Gallus gallus domesticus, were sensitive to feeding errors by their chicks. The feeding displays of 12 hens were s tudied in two contexts: (1) in the presence of chicks that fed on a fo od colour that was palatable to the hen, and hence made no apparent fe eding errors and (2) in the presence of chicks that fed on a food colo ur that was unpalatable to the hen, and hence made apparent feeding er rors. Both groups of chicks, in reality, fed on palatable food. Hens r esponded more intensely to chicks that made apparent feeding errors. H ens increased the rate of ground pecking and scratching when they had no food available, and increased the rate of food pecking (although no t food ingestion) when they were given food. It is suggested that hens are sensitive to perceived chick error, and that the costs of increas ed display intensity are balanced by the benefits of attracting chicks to more profitable food items. (C) 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour