DEVELOPMENT OF A BEHAVIOR SYSTEM - DUSTBATHING IN THE BURMESE RED JUNGLEFOWL (GALLUS-GALLUS-SPADICEUS) .2. INTERNAL FACTORS

Dustbathing is a behavior that appears in the repertoire of young chicks at about the age of 1 week. We report 3 experiments with red junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) that were designed to determine when the effects of dust deprivation first appear and whether specific experience is necessary for the motivational factors associated with dust deprivation to gain control of dustbathing. Using both within-subjects and between-subjects designs, and periods of dust deprivation from 1 to 4 days, we found that deprivation effects appear as soon as dustbathing appears and that these effects did not change over the 4-week period of the experiments. The results are interpreted within a Lorenzian framework.