Behavioural and morphological effects of testosterone and gonadotropins in the young male domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos L.)

Pierre Deviche, Jacques Balthazart

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Young male domestic ducks 20-72 days old were successively injected with two hormonal preparations. The first hormone treatment included males injected with testosterone propionate (TP), human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), pregnant mare serum (PMS), control oil injected males (C) and males injected with TP and submitted at the same time to a permanent intense light. During the second hormonal treatment all males except controls were injected with TP. Almost no behavioural effects were observed in any group of males following the first treatment. The second one, however, induced intense social display and sexual behaviour in the four TP-injected groups. Some qualitative and quantitative differences were found between groups according to the first hormone treatment to which they had been submitted. This suggests a possible role of gonadotropic hormones in the control of social behaviour in ducks. Experimental data supporting this hypothesis are briefly reviewed and discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)217-232
Number of pages16
JournalBehavioural processes
Volume1
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1976
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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