| Abstract: | Early experience has been found to have long-term effects on behaviour such as social imprinting and song learning. In this paper we investigate whether early experience with particular types of food can lead to long-term feeding preferences in canaries. For 8 wk following the onset of independent foraging, two groups of naive fledgling canaries were reared on different diets. One group had a choice of four seed types, while individuals in the other group received only one type of seed. After this training period, all the birds were given a mixed seed diet for a further 15 wk, and then their preference for the original seeds was tested. All six birds that had been given four seeds during the training period showed the same preference, namely: hemp > niger > millet > linseed. However, all the birds that had been trained on one seed type only, still preferred the seed on which they had been trained. After a further 23 wk on a mixed-seed diet, birds from the restricted early diet group showed no further preference for the seed on which they were trained, and their seed choice at this stage was similar to the birds that had received four seeds. We conclude that early experience can affect food choice in canaries for at least 15 wk, but is subordinate to other influences in the longer term. |
