Behaviour of newly hatched and adult Japanese quail and the feasibility of adaptation to weightlessness.
The aim of cosmic biology is to create conditions necessary for the long-term stay of man on cosmic orbital complexes and planetary stations.  Such conditions should be provided by the autonomous closed ecosystem--a simplified model of the terrestrial biocenosis.  As an experimental model of the higher heterotrophic link of this ecosystem the Japanese quail was chosen.  This paper presents recent knowledge on the behaviour of newly hatched and adult quails under conditions of weightlessness.  Videorecords made as part of the experiments aboard the MIR orbital station do not meet the criteria of systematic behavioural observation required for qualitative and quantitative behavioural analysis on earth.  Nevertheless, the data is highly interesting and original, and was therefore analysed and summarized.
Kostal
L
L
Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Ivanka pri Dunaji, CSFR.
Bilcik
B
B
Juráni
M
M
Bod'a
K
K
Sepelev EJa
Gurjeva
T S
TS
Sabo
V
V
Solcova
I
I
Sýkora
J
J
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003370:Coturnix / Q000254:growth & development*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D013026:Space Flight; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014893:Weightlessness