Pecking and initial drinking responses in young domestic fowl.

Naive chicks of Gallus domesticus displayed a visually elicited pecking response to various stimuli with characteristics of both food and water drops; pecking was directed at small objects contrasting with their backgrounds, especially shiny, high-contrast targets.Chicks' drinking response was not elicited on initially seeing pools of water, and usually appeared only after water had been taken inside the bill.The preferred characteristics of targets for pecking would lead chicks to dew and rain drops, and provide 1 opportunity for learning the visible characteristics of water.Other opportunities are also available, and inheritance of an ability to respond with drinking to the 1st sight of water is apparently unnecessary.