Fear Response in Roosters Orally Exposed to Alcohol: An Alternative Animal Model

Abstract

Effect of ethanol consumption on fear response in human and conventional animal models (rodents) is controversial. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of ethanol administration on fearfulness in poultry as an alternative animal model.Being a reliable measure in avian species, tonic immobility was used to evaluate the fear response in 60 roosters orally administered with ethanol. Duration of tonic immobility was higher in alcohol-exposed birds compared to the control birds (P<0.05), suggesting that dosing the roosters with ethanol was associated with an increased fear response which makes poultry as a plausible alternative model in behavioral studies.