ABSTRACT
Observations made on animals have provided much information about imitative behavior. Most of these data are related to feeding behavior. This chapter focuses on results of studies on imitation in feeding in some birds and mammals. An inventive method of studying the effect of the mother on feeding in chicks was used by E. R. A. Turner. The observations on food intake in young animals showed that independent feeding develops under the influence of parents or other adults of the colony. In further research, B. G. Galef examined the factors influencing the selection of feeding sites by rat pups. He found that the members of adult pairs of rats did not attract one another to a feeding site. The capacity of parrots for vocal imitation is well known; they can imitate human speech sometimes with great perfection. When chaffinches reared in isolation were exposed to tape recording of chaffinch song during their first autumn and winter, they produced almost normal songs later.
