Differences in responses to repeated fear-relevant stimuli between Nagoya and White Leghorn chicks

•Tonic immobility (TI) response was successfully quantified in newly hatched chicks.•Mean TI duration was shorter in White Leghorn chicks than the Nagoya breed.•White Leghorn chicks were more prone than the Nagoya breed to TI induction.•Body weight correlated with TI duration in White Leghorn chicks.•Fear responses may be due to breed-specific differences in habituation processes.

Freezing responses to fearful stimuli are crucial for survival among all animal species within a prey–predator system. Generally, the degree of fearfulness correlates with intensity, duration, and frequency of freezing behaviours in response to fear-relevant stimuli. The present study examines innate fear responses to human handling in 144 newly hatched chicks through a tonic immobility (TI) test. Two fear responses—freezing duration and number of TI inductions—were examined. Individual variations in innate fear were investigated in chicks 1–2 days post-hatching when the restraint procedure was successively repeated 3 times within each day. Chicks showed sensitivity to fearful stimuli and considerable inter-individual variation in freezing duration and number of attempts required to induce TI. Moreover, differences were observed between breeds; White Leghorn chicks showed relatively low fear levels with gradual increases in TI duration, whereas Nagoya chicks showed extended TI duration and habituation to fearful stimuli. Our results suggest that TI reactions among newly hatched chicks are an innately determined behaviour specific to a breed or strain of chicken. Further, fearful responses among newborn chicks are not simple, but complex behaviours that involve multiple factors, such as breed-specific contextual fear learning and habituation/sensitisation processes.