Use puppets to increase the survival or growth of hand-reared chicks
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Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
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Number of studies: 3
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How is the evidence assessed?
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Effectiveness
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Certainty
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Harms
Study locations
Supporting evidence from individual studies
A replicated ex situ study in Idaho, USA (Whitmore & Marzluff 1998), found that the growth of raven Corvus corax chicks did not vary between 30 individuals fed with a puppet and 82 fed by keepers. Post-release survival and reproduction were not compared. This study is also discussed in ‘Artificially incubate and hand-rear birds in captivity’.
Study and other actions testedA randomised, replicated and controlled study in Idaho, USA, between 1993 and 1995 (Valutis & Marzluff 1999), found that 25 raven Corvus corax chicks (used as surrogates for Hawaiian crows C. hawaiiensis and Mariana crows C. kubaryi) hand-raised using puppets did not behave differently towards other ravens before or after release, or differ in dispersal from the release site, compared to 49 chicks raised without puppets. Puppet-rearing appeared to increase post-release survival, but the whereabouts of 49% of released birds were unknown, adding considerable uncertainty to this conclusion. Puppet-raised birds were more fearful of keepers following release, which could be beneficial for some species. Puppet-reared birds were separated from each other at 7-10 days old (before their eyes opened).
Study and other actions testedA replicated trial in Saudi Arabia in 1995 (van Heezik et al. 1999) found that hand-reared houbara bustards Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii raised with a puppet to minimise human contact were not significantly more likely to survive following release at a desert site, than control (reared with human contact) birds (42% of 12 puppet-reared birds alive the year after release vs. 27% of 12 controls). This study also is also discussed in ‘Use ‘anti-predator training’ to improve survival after release’.
Study and other actions tested
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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:
Bird Conservation
Bird Conservation - Published 2013
Bird Synopsis