The relative effectiveness of an inanimate stimulus and a live surrogate during imprinting in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica

It has been demonstrated repeatedly that stimuli vary in their effectiveness in eliciting and maintaining imprinting. Agreement has not been reached, however, with regard to the ideal imprinting model for laboratory studies. This situation is in part a result of the inability to replicate precisely natural parameters in the laboratory. Thus laboratory results are often inconsistent with field research. In order to develop a more biologically appropriate imprinting stimulus, a live Japanese quail hen was conditioned to serve as an imprinting object. An imprinting study was then performed to assess the dimensions of effectiveness of the live model. Comparisons between the live model and a decoy yielded different patterns of imprinting in young Japanese quail.