A Systematic Review of Equine Personality
Examining the literature suggests equine personality is of interest to behavior and welfare scientists and those involved in the equine industry. Study and assessment of personality is critical because of the profound implications certain traits have with respect to injury risk, the horse-human relationship, training processes, learning in horses, and management or breeding practices. The […]
Growth-mortality tradeoffs and ‘personality traits’ in animals
Consistent individual differences in boldness, reactivity, aggressiveness, and other ‘personality traits’ in animals are stable within individuals but vary across individuals, for reasons which are currently obscure. Here, I suggest that consistent individual differences in growth rates encourage consistent individual differences in behavior patterns that contribute to growth-mortality tradeoffs. This hypothesis predicts that behavior patterns […]
Variable stress-responsiveness in wild type and domesticated fighting fish
VERBEEK, P., T. IWAMOTO AND N. MURAKAMI. Variable stress-responsiveness in wild type and domesticated fighting fish. PHYSIOL BEHAV XX(X) 000-000, 2007. We combined behavioral and physiological measures to compare coping style in wild-type Betta splendens and a domesticated strain selectively bred for sports fighting. We showed previously that the fighter strain is more aggressive than […]
Speed of exploration and risk-taking behavior are linked to corticosterone titres in zebra finches
The existence of consistent individual differences in behavioral strategies (“personalities” or coping styles) has been reported in several animal species. Recent work in great tits has shown that such traits are heritable and exhibit significant genetic variation. Free-living birds respond to environmental stresses by up-regulating corticosterone production. Behavior during mild stress can occur in accordance […]
Integrating animal temperament within ecology and evolution
Abstract Temperament describes the idea that individual behavioural differences are repeatable over time and across situations. This common phenomenon covers numerous traits, such as aggressiveness, avoidance of novelty, willingness to take risks, exploration, and sociality. The study of temperament is central to animal psychology, behavioural genetics, pharmacology, and animal husbandry, but relatively few studies have […]
Future directions in behavioural syndromes research
A behavioural syndrome occurs when individuals behave in a consistent way through time or across contexts and is analogous to ‘personality’ or ‘temperament’. Interest is accumulating in behavioural syndromes owing to their important ecological and evolutionary consequences. There are plenty of opportunities in this burgeoning young field to integrate proximate and functional approaches to studying […]
Avian personalities: characterization and epigenesis
The work presented here aims at understanding the nature, epigenesis and function of personality types (here called behavioral profiles) in birds, focusing on a wild bird species, the great tit (Parus major). Lines bidirectionally selected for exploration show a wide array of social and non-social behavioral differences, and also some differences in physiological parameters. Line […]
Early life behavioural differences in wild caught and domesticated sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)
Behavioural studies comparing hatchery and wild-caught fish are useful to improve selection for aquaculture and restocking programmes. We examined swimming behaviour characteristics in wild captured and domesticated sea bass juveniles before and after eliciting a startle response at 8 different ages and always on naive individuals. We specifically investigated whether domestication impacts juvenile sea bass […]
Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability in Dairy Cows with Different Temperament and Behavioural Reactivity to Humans
From the 1990s, extensive research was started on the physiological aspects of individual traits in animals. Previous research has established two extreme (proactive and reactive) coping styles in several animal species, but the means of reactivity with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity has not yet been investigated in cattle. The aim of this study […]
The stress response and exploratory behaviour in Yucatan minipigs (Sus scrofa): Relations to sex and social rank
According to the coping styles hypothesis, an individual demonstrates an integrated behavioural and physiological response to environmental challenge that is consistent over time and across situations. Individual consistency in behavioural responses to challenge has been documented across the animal kingdom. Comparatively few studies, however, have examined inter-individual variation in the physiological response, namely glucocorticoid and […]