Chick's response to an imprinting stimulus: heterosis and evolution.
Tendencies of day-old chicks to respond toward, to approach, and to stay near a distant audiovisulal imprinting apparatus were shown to be inherited in a heterotic manner. High correlations found among the traits suggest that these behavioral responses are not independent but sequential. The fitness value of such a behavioral sequence is explained in terms of imprinting.
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D007173:Imprinting, Psychological; D010641:Phenotype