Social influences on feeding site selection by Burmese fowl (Gallus gallus).

Abstract

Naive, adolescent Burmese red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) observed trained conspecifics feeding in a large enclosure. When tested 48 hr later, observers exhibited significantly enhanced preferences both for the type of foraging site and for the area in the enclosure where they had observed conspecifics foraging successfully. Such delayed influences of observation of foraging success on the orientation of feeding by an observer can be explained as an instance of stimulus enhancement (Spence, 1937) but not as an example of local enhancement (Thorpe, 1963).

The McDonald?s Equilibrium. Advertising, empty calories, and the endogenous determination of dietary preferences

“…Hatchling chicks can be induced to peck at foodlike objects that are first "pecked" at by a mechanical pointer (Turner, 1964;Suboski 1989). Older chickens, after observing either an adolescent chicken or its television image feeding at a visually distinctive site, actively sought out and fed from similar sites two days later (McQuoid and Galef, 1992;. 14 Though experimental evidence on imitative behavior in humans is much more limited, available data indicate a pattern similar to that described for other social species.…”

Mechanisms of copying behaviour in zebra finches

“…Moreover, one reason birds forage in flocks is because by doing so they find food more readily. For example, Burmese fowl (Gallus gallus) use both location and stimulus cues learned from an experienced demonstrator when foraging 48 h after observing the experienced bird (McQuoid and Galef, 1992).…”

Selection and use of feeding sites and feeding stations by herbivores: A review

“…Group foraging enables animals to minimise predator risks [40,62] and to take advantage of congeners' past experience in locating sites and determining their value [78,135,149]. Gregariousness also has a cost in terms of exploitative and interference competition, aggressiveness, judgement mistakes by the 'leader'.…”