Morphometric data and locomotor and social behavior data of male Japanese quail during in a Social Interaction test, in birds reared in an enriched or a standard environment.

<b>Environmental enrichment (EE) protocol</b>During the EE in the brood boxes (8-28 days old), 3 different sets of enrichments were rotated between boxes every 7 days. After reallocation in home cages at 28 days of age, EE was applied in 3 periods with different enrichment sets. Within each period, EE home cages received weekly one of the three enrichment sets in a random order in such a manner that all EE animals were exposed to the 3 enrichment sets. The replacement of the enrichment items was done on a fixed day and time every week, and during this procedure all the animals were removed from the box and placed in a basket. Control animals underwent the same manipulation procedure.<br><b>Social Interaction Test</b> was performed between 118 and 130 days of age. This test is described in detail in Caliva et al (2017, Pout. Sci) including a figure with the schematic representation of the test procedure. Briefly, the SI test consists in encounters between an unfamiliar test adult male and a PC stimulus adult male, in the presence of the test bird’s female cagemate (audience). First, the test male and it’s female cagemate were placed in a central compartment separated by an opaque partition from a PC stimulus male. After 2 min, the test male and the PC stimulus male, remained in the same compartment, while the female cagemate was placed in a nearby compartment at one side of the apparatus, and used as a social audience. Immediately after, the central opaque partition was removed and the test and PC stimulus birds were allowed to interact. Direct interaction lasted a maximum of 10 min. However, if during the interaction a quail received more than 5 consecutive aggressive pecks, showed a clear and continued escaping (retrieval) behavior, and/or showed any sign of physical damage, the interaction was immediately interrupted. A video-camera was positioned 1 m above the apparatus and connected to a computer that allowed constant monitoring and recording during the test while out of the sight of the birds. Using ANY-maze the following aggressive behaviors were recorded: pecks, grabs, mounts, cloacal contacts, threats, chase, and attack with claws. Herein, when grabs, mounts or cloacal contacts were performed by one male towards another male, they were considered as aggressive behaviors. Males that performed more than 5 aggressiveness behaviors were considered aggressive (Ag), and males that did not perform any aggressive behavior towards PC opponent were considered non-aggressive (nonAg).Males exposed to the experimental apparatus without the presence of an opponent (testCON) and non-manipulated males that always remained in the home cage (Naive) with their cagemate were used as control groups.<br>