EEP Crowned pigeon number 4

EEP STUDBOOK CROWNED PIGEONS
Horizontally the preferences of an individual bird can be found. PS>PM means, for example,
that the bird is significantly more preening on the sand than on the mould, if the cellar is filled
in. This is the case with five or six crowned pigeons. It also can be found that three birds
significantly do more forage than preen on the mould, three animals significantly do more
forage on the mould than on the sand and five animals significantly do more preen than forage
on the sand.
Vertically the preferences per crowned pigeon can be found. Three out of six animals
significantly are preening more on the sand than on the mould, significantly more are foraging
on the mould than on the sand, on the sand significantly more are preening than foraging and
on the mould more are foraging than preening. Two out of six birds do preen significantly
more on the sand than on the mould and they significantly are preening more on the sand than
they are foraging on the sand.
Fisher
From this it might be concluded that crowned pigeons have a preference to forage on the
mould and to preen on the sand. To test this hypothesis a Fisher’s exact test has been carried
out.
Sand Mould
Table 3: Table of a Fishers Exact Test.
To forage 3 6
Example: to forage on the sand = 3;
This means: to forage on the sand is three
To preen 10 0
times significantly higher than another category of behaviour.
From this can be calculated (n = 19, α = 0.05) p = 0.0031, and this proves that that crowned
pigeons have a preference for preening on the sand and foraging on the mould.
Results of the experimental research project
The experiment with the perches
This experiment has been carried out in Alphen a/d Rijn birdpark and Amsterdam Zoo. In
Alphen the female had no preference for a special type of perch, but the male had a significant
preference (8.33% versus 0.24%; n =10, p = 0.001) for the thick perch. In the left enclosure in
Amsterdam Zoo the male showed no significant preference for one of the perches, but the
female spent significantly more time at the thick perch than on the thin perch (32.26% versus
22.11%; n =12, p = 0.022). The pair of crowned pigeons in the right enclosure in Amsterdam
Zoo showed during the 12 days of observations no significant preference for one of the
perches. It can also be concluded that two out of six birds have a preference for the thick
perch, while the other four birds do not have any preference at all.
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