What is imprinting?

     Imprinting is when a newborn animal (in this case a duck) reduces its motherly preferences to an object (typically a parent) as a result of exposure to that object. For many ducks, it tends to be the first human they regularly see. When imprinting begins, te duckling knows that it is the same species as whatever larger creature it sees after birth. The duckling believes they are the same species, though they might not always be. Ducklings imprint of the species right away and recognize their voice, but they do not recognize their face until a week after. In their natural environment,  behavioral imprinting acts as an instinct for survival in newborns. This is crucial because threatening and fatal events like an attack by a predator can happen right after hatching. Thus, imprinting is very reliable to induce the formation of a strong social bond between offspring and parent. 

    Imprinting has a large affect on the brain of these young offspring. “Several studies using different neurobiological techniques have implicated the intermediate and medial part of the hyperstriatum ventrale (IMHV) on both sides of the brain, as being one of the probable structures for the storage of the imprinted association (Horn, 1985). The dorsal ventricular ridge (DVR) is a unique brain structure present in birds and reptiles. In birds, the DVR includes the hyperstriatum ventrale, plus an area called the wulst. The wulst seems to be part of a system which resembles the mammalian memory substrate” (Cardoso and Sabbatini).