Junior Research Group of Primate Sexual Selection, German Primate Center, Göttingen, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 5;8(8):e69383. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069383. Print 2013.
Animal personalities, i.e. consistent differences in behavior across time and/or context, have received increased attention of behavioral biologists over the last years. Recent research shows that personalities represent traits on which natural and sexual selection work and which can have substantial fitness consequences. The aim of this study is to establish the personality structure of crested macaque (Macaca nigra) males as foundation for future studies on its adaptive value. We collected behavioral data through focal animal sampling and additionally conducted two sets of playback experiments. Results of a factor analysis on the behavioral data revealed a four factor structure with components we labeled Anxiety, Sociability, Connectedness and Aggressiveness. Results from the experiments revealed an additional and independent Boldness factor but the absence of Neophilia. Overall, this structure resembles other macaque and animal species with the exception of Connectedness, which might be a consequence of the species' tolerant social style. Our results thus not only form the basis for future studies on the adaptive value of personality in crested macaques but also contribute an important data point for investigating the evolution of personality structure from a comparative perspective by refining, for example, which personality factors characterized the last common ancestor of hominids and macaques.
动物个性，即在时间和/或环境中表现出的一致的行为差异，近年来受到行为生物学家的越来越多的关注。最近的研究表明，个性代表了自然选择和性选择作用的特征，并且可能具有实质性的适应后果。本研究的目的是建立黑冠猴（Macaca nigra）雄性的个性结构，作为未来研究其适应价值的基础。我们通过焦点动物取样收集了行为数据，并另外进行了两组回放实验。对行为数据的因子分析结果显示出一个由四个因素组成的结构，我们将其标记为焦虑、社交性、联系性和攻击性。实验结果显示出一个额外的、独立的大胆因素，但缺乏新奇感。总的来说，这种结构类似于其他猕猴和动物物种，除了联系性，这可能是该物种宽容的社会风格的结果。因此，我们的研究结果不仅为未来研究黑冠猴个性的适应价值奠定了基础，而且通过例如，细化哪些个性因素是人类和猕猴的最后共同祖先所具有的，为从比较的角度研究个性结构的进化提供了一个重要的数据点。
