Satiation and cyclic performance of dust-bathing by Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Abstract

Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) exhibit cyclic baseline levels of dust-bathing when permitted ad libitum access to a particulate substrate; on a 10 h light:14 h dark photoperiod, the birds confine the bulk of their dust-bathing to 7 ± 2 h after light onset. This study tested the hypothesis that the cyclicity simply reflects stimulus (or response) satiation and recovery therefrom. Birds were induced to satiate to dust prior to the “normal” daily peak period, or were prevented from dust-bathing until near its end. Those that satiated prior to the normal period also exhibited amounts of dust-bathing later the same day comparable to normal baseline levels exhibited by control birds. Birds that were not permitted to dust-bathe until near the end of the normal period exhibited exceptionally high levels of dust-bathing when deprivation was terminated, so that their totals for the normal period were comparable to the totals of birds in the other groups. Thus, the effects of deprivation appear to be additive with respect to a normally cycling baseline level, which is not disturbed by manipulations of the expression of the behaviour.