DETOUR BEHAVIOR IN THE DOMESTIC CHICK - SEARCHING FOR A DISAPPEARING PREY OR A DISAPPEARING SOCIAL PARTNER

Chicks, Gallus gallus domestictus, of 2 and 6 days of age were present ed with a goal-object that was made to disappear behind one of two scr eens opposite each other. Chicks proved able to choose the correct scr een when the goal-object was a social partner (i.e. a red ball on whic h they had been imprinted), whereas they searched at random behind eit her screen when the goal-object was a palatable prey (i.e. a mealworm) . Chicks, however, appeared able to make use of the directional cue pr ovided by the movement of the mealworm when tested in the presence of a cagemate. These results suggest that previous failure to obtain deto ur behaviour in the double screen test in the chick was not due to a c ognitive limitation, but rather to the evocation of fear responses to the novel environment that interfered with the correct execution of th e spatial task. (C) 1995 The Association for the Study of Animal Behav iour