ANIMAL MOTOR BEHAVIOR ADAPTATION TO WEIGHTLESSNESS IN ONTOGENY

Observations of motor behaviour of newly hatched and adult Japanese qu ail in weightlessness on board the orbital station ''MIR'' have shown that the innate motor instincts and reflexes indispensable under the c onditions of the Earth gravity hinder the formation of adequate motor behaviour in weightlessness. Therefore it seems that self-adaptation o f hatchlings to these conditions is hardly possible. During the 7 flig ht days the adult birds showed first signs of purposeful motor behavio ur in agravitational environment using their wings for flying. This fa cilitated the use of hind limbs to support the body in a stable state. A new problem of animals' motor behaviour ontogeny in weightlessness is subject for further studies.