A social ethological perspective applied to care of and research on songbirds

The interrelationships among individuals in gregarious species can have profound effects on the animals' behavior, physiology, and even health. Captive housing should address the social needs of such species because failure to do so can result in the development and expression of abnormal behavior. But determining what social stimuli to provide for any given species poses many challenges. I review recent work on brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) that was designed to identify the social stimuli critical for effective development and breeding. The work demonstrates the importance of social experiences in organizing reproductive physiology and behavior, so much so that inattention to these experiences can lead to misinterpretation of the function and mechanisms of the birds' behavior. There are no general rules applicable to all social species, however. Determining the social conditions needed for members of any species requires an ethological approach that evaluates the sensory, cognitive, and ecological characteristics of the species and considers those characteristics in the design of captive housing and research.