The development of pecking in ring doves is described and analyzed as a model system for understanding the roles of learning in behavioral development. Ring dove squab go from complete dependence on their parents to independent feeding during the third and fourth week post-hatch. They learn to identify food and to consume it through their interaction with food and their parents. This chapter describes experiments that analyze the specific learning mechanisms involved in the development of pecking and what it is that squabs learn from their experience. More generally, the chapter illustrates the utility of applying learning principles to the analysis of behavioral development.
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