Occhiuto Francesca, Vázquez-Diosdado Jorge A, Carslake Charles, Kaler Jasmeet
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Leicestershire LE12 5RD, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jun 8;9(6):212019. doi: 10.1098/rsos.212019. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Individuals within a population often show consistent between individual differences in their average behavioural expression (personality), and consistent differences in their within individual variability of behaviour around the mean (predictability). Where correlations between different personality traits and/or the predictability of traits exist, these represent behavioural or predictability syndromes. In wild populations, behavioural syndromes have consequences for individuals' survival and reproduction and affect the structure and functioning of groups and populations. The consequences of behavioural syndromes for farm animals are less well explored, partly due to the challenges in quantifying behaviour of many individuals across time and context in a farm setting. Here, we use ultra-wideband location sensors to provide precise measures of movement and space use for 60 calves over 40-48 days. We are the first livestock study to demonstrate consistent within and between individual variation in movement and space use with repeatability values of up to 0.80 and CVp values up to 0.49. Our results show correlations in personality and predictability, indicating the existence of 'exploratory' and 'active' personality traits in farmed calves. We consider the consequences of such individual variability for cattle behaviour and welfare and how such data may be used to inform management decisions in farm animals.
种群中的个体在其平均行为表现（个性）的个体间差异以及围绕均值的行为个体内变异性（可预测性）方面往往表现出一致性差异。当不同个性特征之间以及/或者特征的可预测性之间存在相关性时，这些就代表了行为或可预测性综合征。在野生种群中，行为综合征会对个体的生存和繁殖产生影响，并影响群体和种群的结构与功能。行为综合征对农场动物的影响尚未得到充分研究，部分原因是在农场环境中跨时间和情境量化许多个体的行为存在挑战。在这里，我们使用超宽带定位传感器，在40至48天的时间里为60头犊牛提供运动和空间利用的精确测量。我们是第一项牲畜研究，证明了运动和空间利用在个体内和个体间存在一致的变异性，重复性值高达0.80，CVp值高达0.49。我们的结果显示了个性和可预测性之间的相关性，表明养殖犊牛中存在“探索性”和“活跃性”个性特征。我们考虑了这种个体变异性对牛的行为和福利的影响，以及这些数据如何用于为农场动物的管理决策提供信息。
