Boldness-mediated habitat use tactics and reproductive success in a wild large herbivore
The balance between resource acquisition and risk avoidance should vary according to personality type, with potential knock-on effects for fitness. Although previous studies have suggested a link between boldness and fitness components, little evidence is available on the behavioural mechanisms mediating this relationship in the wild. Because habitat use is the outcome of the trade-off […]
Temperament, risk assessment and habituation to novelty in eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus
An increasing number of studies are focusing on the role of animal temperament in the ecology of wild populations. One important step in these studies is to estimate the repeatability of temperament traits, by replicating measures of an animal’s behavioural or physiological reactions to a novel or stressful situation. When studies are performed in the […]
Testing for the presence of coping styles in a wild mammal
Coping styles represent alternative response patterns in reaction to a stressor. The coping style model provides a set of predictions about correlations between behavioural and neurophysiological reactions to a stressful situation. According to this model, high levels of activity should be correlated with high levels of aggressiveness at the behavioural level, and to high sympathetic […]
Development of boldness and docility in yellow-bellied marmots
Personality traits are important because they can affect individual survival as well as how a population may respond to environmental change. How these traits arise, whether they are maintained throughout ontogeny, and how environmental factors differentially affect them throughout life is poorly understood. Understanding these pathways is important for determining the function and evolution of […]
Influence of testosterone on the docility of German Simmental and Charolais heifers during behavior tests
In beef cows, docility is important for animal welfare reasons, the farmer’s and veterinarian’s safety as well as for economic reasons. The hormone testosterone is often mentioned in the context with aggressions and docility. The present study tested the hypothesis that higher testosterone levels in beef cows are associated with more aggressive behavior and lower […]
Neural modulators of temperament: A multivariate approach to personality trait identification in the horse
A relationship between dopamine and temperament has previously been described in human cases of dopaminergic dysfunction. Adjustment in temperament prior to disease manifestation can enable the early identification of individuals at risk of such conditions, and scope exists to extend this application of temperament alterations to cases of dopaminergic dysfunction in horses. A multivariate and […]