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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1962 Apr;5(2):265–270. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1962.5-265

The quail, Coturnix coturnix, as a laboratory animal

Ellen P Reese, T W Reese
PMCID: PMC1404109  PMID: 14491001

Abstract

The quail, Coturnix coturnix, is small, gentle, hardy, adaptable, easy to house, and economical to maintain. Wetherbee and Jacobs (1960) call it the “Drosophila of the avian laboratory,” and yet this charming bird is virtually unknown to the psychological laboratory. Our preliminary investigations show that the pecking operant is readily conditioned and that little or no deprivation is necessary to maintain behavior with food as a reinforcer. Visual and temporal discriminations were very quickly made. Our observations suggest that the social behavior of these birds might be a fruitful area for psychological study. On the basis of our somewhat limited observations, we believe that C. coturnix should prove a useful experimental animal for comparative studies, for basic research in learning, motivation, and perhaps social behavior, and for teaching the analysis of behavior in demonstrations and laboratory courses.

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  1. PADGETT C. A., IVEY W. D. Coturnix quail as a laboratory research animal. Science. 1959 Jan 30;129(3344):267–268. doi: 10.1126/science.129.3344.267. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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