Paired Rotation and Auditory-Stimulation of Common Murre Uria-Aalge-Aalge Embryos and Its Posthatch Effect

Abstract

Partially incubated Murre embryos were stimulated with sound prior to or after egg rotation. When neonates were tested, length of following in the presence of the embryonic stimulus was greater in chicks that had, as embryos, received the stimulation after egg rotation than in those that had received the stimulation prior to egg rotation. However, in neither condition was length of following different from that of chicks that had received no auditory embryonic stimulation. When the chicks were equated on activity level, by expressing following as a proportion of total activity, the chicks that received the auditory stimulation after rotation showed superior following both to the chicks that had received it prior to rotation, and to chicks that received no auditory stimulation.