Effect of the density of conspecifics on runway social reinstatement behavior of male XXXX genetically selected for contrasting adrenocortical responsiveness to stress.

@entity5872 @entity8682 @entity2033 @entity8433
Runway tests are considered indicative of underlying sociality in birds and their ability to make social discriminations and establish interactions among conspecifics. Herein, social reinstatement behavior in male juvenile @entity5872 selected for a reduced ( @entity8433 , low stress) or exaggerated ( @entity8682 , high stress) adrenocortical response to brief mechanical restraint was evaluated. Individual males were given the choice to reinstate with either 2 (low density, LD) or 8 (high density, @entity2033 ) unfamiliar randombred conspecifics placed in goal boxes at opposite ends of a two-choice runway (TCRW). Then, the same males were individually retested in a single goal box runway wherein they were exposed to a goal box containing either a LD or a @entity2033 of males. In the TCRW, a higher (P < 0.01) number of @entity8682 males started their ambulation toward the goal box containing the @entity2033 as opposed to LD of conspecifics. The @entity8682 males also spent more (P < 0.01) time in close proximity (within a 10-cm close zone; CZ) to the @entity2033 (218 s) rather than LD (57 s) of conspecifics. In contrast, the @entity8433 males did not differ in their initial direction of travel and they spent similar average amounts of times in the CZ of their stimulus LD (141 s) and @entity2033 (124 s) conspecifics. Similar to the TCRW results, in the single goal box runway, @entity8682 males spent more (P < 0.01) time in the CZ of @entity2033 rather than LD conspecifics, whereas @entity8433 quail spent similar amounts of time in the CZ of LD and @entity2033 males. Considering that runways are novel (and therefore frightening) environments, our findings suggest that @entity8682 quail may find better shelter (i.e., more comfort) in close proximity to a larger rather than smaller group of conspecifics, whereas @entity8433 birds find groups of varying conspecific density equally attractive. The results suggest that @entity8433 quail possess favorable social adaptive qualities because they appear to be better suited to cope with situations where the density of conspecifics is variable.
