Behavior - Genetically inherited or learned?

[waxbill lover]

Thought I'd throw a comment/question out to you all.

I have a female gouldian (Bianca) who is THE most curious, friendly, outgoing, tame, and happy gouldian finch I've ever had. She is my absolutely favorite. (Her mate is much more reserved, and keeps his distance whenever possible)

Bianca had 5 babies last year, and has had another 5 this year. The 2 chicks that are moulted out and grown up, as well as the 5 that are just fledged, have almost exactly the same personality as her. They're curious, come right up to the edge of the cage to see me, they act like they want to come out and explore, and just generally very neat birds.

I watched a show on Discovery quite some time ago, it was about a fox breeder (quite a number of years back) who "selectively bred" wild foxes to obtain domesticated characteristics that dogs/cats have- Tameness, non-aggressive personalities, friendly to humans, not crazy wild-animal like in their cages, to get a line of foxes that only had these traits, and then continued to breed these foxes only.

Do you think this type of breeding could also occur in our domesticated finches? I have some yellow goulds, who are WILDER than all hell, and their chicks have also been wilder than hell, and these birds have been raised in exactly the same way as my female Bianca and her chicks, with the same amount of human interaction. Could behavior be genetically altered by breeding for specific characteristics?

I'm curious what your responses will be!

Thanks.

[waxbill lover]

Bianca

[kheather]

that is interesting to think about, I find behavior fascinating....part of what I love about small birds. I think just making my first guess, they have probably learned from watching her....just like I have read that it is good if baby gould can at least see their parents feed the next clutch for even a day. They say it makes a big difference in their parenting skills being passed on. I have read other things that say fostered gouldians can raise babies just as well as parent raised. So it will be interesting to see what others think. I think it is neat to hear your babies are showing her personality. My hen is a real sweet girl too. she almost wants to land on my hand when I am putting eggfood in. She will come right up to me when I talk to them. Some of her babies are very friendly too. Really not sure which way to go with an answer I would have to think 'bout it...

[ac12]

I tend to agree with you.
I had a VERY aggressive zebra hen, and all her off spring were just as aggressive as she was. They would attack/be VERY aggressive to any other bird. I had to get rid of all of them, because they were just too disruptive and did not get along with anyone other than their siblings.

But on the other hand, I had a VERY laid back zebra, and his off spring started to pick on him even before they were weaned. Rather strange, they were starting to be aggressive to the bird that fed them. Like biting the hand that feeds you Maybe they got that aggression from their mom.

But, some behavior can be learned over time.
Like them getting used to you sticking your hand in the cage to feed them. After they get used to you, some of them won't "freak out." I had one land on the food tray before I got it set on the cage floor. Either that or he was HUNGRY.

[Dayna]

I had a male that would always come flying up to the door to meet me. He was so cute, did it for the longest time. Then once breeding season hit he's wild as ever I have a male yearling. Absolutely adorable. He is always the first to greet me and land on the food dish andhe even starts singing for me everytime I come up to the cage lol. I have an owl that is the same way as the others. All my other birds are wild.

[flrancho]

I don't know if its learned behavior or inherited, but its an interesting question. I'd imagine it can be a bit of both? Kind of a monkey see, monkey do..... but then if the parents are so different, what makes the babies favor one parents behavior over the other? If numerous clutches favor one parents behavior, I'd venture to say its genetic. Just as an example in people, my Mom was adopted. She found her birth parents several years ago, and found that she had many "behaviors" (such as the way she eats waffles) that were the same as her real father, but of course, she'd never met her real father before.

As far as my birds go, I've only ever bred my Javas. The hen is very quiet and peaceful, doesn't want any trouble and is overall just very laid back. My male is all over the place, extremely playful with toys, much more curious about me, but can be a little bit of a "stinkbug" (aka, a naughty bird that seems to do anything he can to find some sort of trouble). The pair had two chicks make it to fledgling stage from their clutch last year. Chicks are almost just like Dad. They're all over the place, very playful and are rotten little things too. They're more wary of me than Dad is, in that aspect they're more like Mom. The rotten little chicks can be so mean to their Mama sometimes too, though they don't mess around with Dad. No idea where that behavior came from. I think its dominance behavior or something... the "chicks" will chase Mama away from the bath dish, but will share it with Papa.

[DanteD716]

My bio. teacher said your personality is inherited, but it also has to do with enviroment. If they grew up with an owner shaking there cage, screaming, etc. they would most likely be afriad all the time. But if they grew up in a similiar style to their mom they would keep their inherited traits.

[Ameza]

Hey I have actually been pondering over the same thing, also saw that fox show.

I happen to have a female zebra that is the most curious and I have also noticed that she produces chicks that are not as skittish. While other pairs are much more "wild".

I have thought about this a lot and if I get much more room someday I would really like to start a line of birds where I select them out of their tameness, instead of colour. I think it would be very interesting if this trait would magnify through the generations and produce much tamer birds that might be for example easier to handle and train.

[annague]

Interesting post! I actually love this post as personality traits are are a favorite concern of mine, too.

Here is my two cents:

YES, personality is inherited and can be passed along to offspring -- because the personality of both adult birds is demonstrated to the chicks on a regular basis AND also genetically encoded through their DNA you will get chicks who display degrees of their parents traits.

IF you take the chicks who have the strongest display of the traits you like and breed only these chicks in an environment conducive to fostering the traits you desire you will eventually breed a strain of birds who display these traits very strongly.

This has been proven over the ages by selective breeding of many types of animals -- dogs, cats, horses, etc.

Breeding for personality -- like breeding for body type -- can be very successful.

Personally, I think breeding for personality is very important as I've bred both dogs and cats for show (in the past) and I weaned out those animals that did not fit my desired profile of personality traits.

Let us know if you decide to to do this and what happens!

[L in Ontario]

Super topic and great input from everyone!!

I agree it's part DNA and part society (bird society) that will imprint on chicks.

[waxbill lover]

Interesting post! I actually love this post as personality traits are are a favorite concern of mine, too.

Here is my two cents:

YES, personality is inherited and can be passed along to offspring -- because the personality of both adult birds is demonstrated to the chicks on a regular basis AND also genetically encoded through their DNA you will get chicks who display degrees of their parents traits.

IF you take the chicks who have the strongest display of the traits you like and breed only these chicks in an environment conducive to fostering the traits you desire you will eventually breed a strain of birds who display these traits very strongly.

This has been proven over the ages by selective breeding of many types of animals -- dogs, cats, horses, etc.

Breeding for personality -- like breeding for body type -- can be very successful.

Personally, I think breeding for personality is very important as I've bred both dogs and cats for show (in the past) and I weaned out those animals that did not fit my desired profile of personality traits.

Let us know if you decide to to do this and what happens!

Anna, I so agree with you on all you have to say here! I plan to do this more, as I SO enjoy the personality of this female gouldians offspring.

They're such clever birds, and will come "visit" me, by jumping onto the side of the cage, so they're almost touching my face...and any chance they have to get out of their cage, they're at it! I have a wire frame ontop of a home-made cage, and the wire is .5"x.5", and the will fly up there, hang from the roof, and then pull themselves up and stick their little heads through and look around the room. I almost fell off my stool at breakfast one morning watching them!

I have a couple of blue males, who have the same, calm, curious attitudes. I may pair one of them with Bianca eventually, and see how tame those babies are!

[waxbill lover]

Super topic and great input from everyone!!

I agree it's part DNA and part society (bird society) that will imprint on chicks.

Thanks Liz! Its always nice to read about something interesting that isn't normally talked about on here. Kind of refreshing! Somedays, I wander around the bird room while cleaning/feeding, drumming up topics in my head to converse about on here...

[annague]

I have a couple of blue males, who have the same, calm, curious attitudes. I may pair one of them with Bianca eventually, and see how tame those babies are!

Brady, if you do breed for personality be sure to let us know how it works out!

[CandoAviary]

I agree, part DNA but a lot to do with the society.. pecking order.
Like in a litter of pups you will have a dominant and then in line down to the submissive member..the scapegoat if left in the pack.
With finches this is aquivalent to the pecking order. Finches personalities are sometimes the results of this order. Sometimes it is the personalities that create this order... but if you remove the submissive pup from the pack you can change his disposition and train him to be more outgoing... once removed from the pack.
Without knowing what kind of conditioning you male bird had ..you can't be for sure if he is more inquisitive and friendly due to his DNA inheritance or is it was the conditioning he received.
I have noticed with each year my chicks become calmer and friendlier acting. I think a lot has to do with the conditioning of the parents... If the parents aren't overly alarmed by your presence then the chicks pick up on this also... and as youngsters, they are always curious and many times will act like they are friendlier than the last generation.. especially handfeds.
I think with any wild animal the simple act of domestication will bring out what we deam as friendly personalities when in actuality it is conditioning ... and domesticating. Now within this group, some will always be easier to condition/train than others.
With dogs... well they are the true art of removing the wild animal and creating a domestic animal. There are traits you want to keep bred into any certain species, whichever are set for that particular standard.