Mainwaring Mark C, Beal Jessica L, Hartley Ian R
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK.
Behav Processes. 2011 Jun;87(2):171-5. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2011.03.005. Epub 2011 Apr 1.
Despite an expanding interest in animal personalities, the influence of social interactions and sex differences on individual differences in behaviour remains poorly understood. Using the social zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), we tested for behavioural differences in exploration of a novel environment and objects, between individuals of both sexes in relation to a social context; the presence of three male companions, three female companions or no companion birds. We predicted that the presence of conspecific companions should result in focal birds reacting to novelty by exploring more extensively because the companion birds contribute to anti-predator vigilance behaviour and because social isolation often causes behavioural inhibition in social species. We found that exploratory behaviour of focal individuals was significantly reduced in the presence of conspecific companions, irrespective of the companion's sex. Moreover, we found a weak trend towards females being more exploratory than males, irrespective of the social context. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the social context in animal personality studies and of exploring sex differences in personalities.
尽管人们对动物个性的兴趣日益浓厚，但社会互动和性别差异对行为个体差异的影响仍知之甚少。我们以群居的斑胸草雀（Taeniopygia guttata）为研究对象，测试了在有社会背景的情况下，即有三只雄性同伴、三只雌性同伴或没有同伴鸟的情况下，两性个体在探索新环境和新物体时的行为差异。我们预测，同种同伴的存在会使焦点鸟通过更广泛的探索对新事物做出反应，因为同伴鸟有助于反捕食警惕行为，而且社会隔离通常会导致群居物种的行为抑制。我们发现，无论同伴的性别如何，在有同种同伴的情况下，焦点个体的探索行为都会显著减少。此外，我们发现，无论社会背景如何，雌性比雄性更具探索性的趋势较弱。这些结果证明了在动物个性研究中考虑社会背景以及探索个性中的性别差异的重要性。
