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Article Dans Une Revue Applied Animal Behaviour Science Année : 2005

Behavioural evidence of hybridization (Japanese x European) in domestic quail released as game birds

Résumé

The European quail is a partial migrant bird considered 'vulnerable' by the European community. The decline of this subspecies has spurred an annual release of large numbers of domestic Japanese quail. Prezygotic and postzygotic isolating mechanisms have not been established between these two subspecies, enhancing the risk of hybridization. In addition, anecdotal reports suggest that hybridization is commonly practiced in game farms of domestic quails. In this article, we present the results of behavioural characterization of the quails produced by two European game farms: one French and one Italian. First, we looked for evidences of hybridization in both game farms. Using actographic methods, we measured migratory tendency. Birds, hatched in summer, were submitted in autumn to an artificial increase of daylength (LD 14:10) for 60 days. In quails, the length of the cloacal vent which is a good indicator of sexual development, was monitored every 10 days. We noted the appearance of cloacal foam in males and egg-laying activity in females. In addition, mating calls produced by the males when sexually mature were recorded and analyzed using spectrographic methods. Seventeen males of

Dates et versions

hal-01327130 , version 1 (06-06-2016)

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Sébastien Derégnaucourt, Jean Charles Guyomarc’h, Silvio Spano. Behavioural evidence of hybridization (Japanese x European) in domestic quail released as game birds. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2005, 94 (3-4), pp.303-318. ⟨10.1016/j.applanim.2005.03.002⟩. ⟨hal-01327130⟩
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