International Journal of Comparative Psychology

Releasing captive-bred Attwater’s prairie chickens (APC) into an endangered wild population has successfully maintained but has not increased a small extant population. The limited success of the captive-release APC program has been largely attributed to heavy predation on the newly released birds. The poor survival rate of released birds suggests that breeding and rearing in captivity may have a detrimental effect on the expression of predator avoidance behaviors. In Experiment 1, 1- 2 week-old chicks were assessed for fear responses. Tendency to hide, as measured by the hole-in-thewall test, correlated with postrelease survival. In Experiment 2, fear responses, including those identified as important to survival in Experiment 1, were stronger in chicks reared in a seminatural environment relative to chicks reared in an artificial environment. Implications for conservation of this endangered species are discussed.