Temperament in preweanling horses: Development of reactions to humans and novelty, and startle responses
The purpose of this study was to investigate the development and the stability across situations and over time of three temperament traits in young foals: propensity to react to humans, propensity to react to novelty, and propensity to react to suddenness. In a comparative study, we examined the reactions of animals in three independent groups […]
How does temperature affect behaviour? Multilevel analysis of plasticity, personality and predictability in hermit crabs
When animals are observed on multiple occasions, consistent between-individual differences in behaviour, often referred to as animal personality, may be observed. However, this does not mean that the behaviour of a given individual is readily predictable. While some individuals show low levels of variation around their behavioural mean, others show high levels of variation, and […]
Behavioural, endocrine and cardiac autonomic responses to a model of startle in horses
Startle is a fast response elicited by sudden acoustic, tactile or visual stimuli in a variety of animal species and in humans. The magnitude of startle response can be modulated by external and internal variables and can be a useful tool to study the sensory-motor integration in animals. Different stimuli have been used to induce […]