Maternal Behaviour Is Modulated by Prenatal Stress in Young Bird

Maternal behavior has a significant individual variability, as mothers take care differently to their young based on their own breeding experience or age. In this parent-youth system, we investigated whether the young played a role as modulator of maternal behavior. For this, we evaluated how adoptive quail (unstressed) raised chicks coming from stressed female (PS) or not (NPS) thank a social stress procedure during laying, known to modify the behavior of chicks. During breeding period, mothers showed no difference in the time spent warming. However, mothers of PS remained closer to their chicks than NPS mothers. These latter were more aggressive towards chicks throughout mothering. On the other hand, PS chicks had a different behavior during breeding period with more requests from their mother at the end. Finally, after mothering, PS and NPS chicks showed different profiles of emotivity and sociality. Results show that mothers respond to behavioral changes in chicks caused by prenatal stress, adapting their own maternal behavior. Behavioral development of these chicks is in turn influenced by maternal behavior. The mother-young relationship is a dynamic interactive system where the young plays a significant role.