Tebelmann Hana, Ganslosser Udo
Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, School of Mathematics and Science Carl von Ossietzsky Universität Oldenburg Oldenburg Germany.
Institute for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Faculty for Biosciences Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena Jena Germany.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Aug 19;14(8):e70178. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70178. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Boldness - defined as the propensity of individuals to take risks - is a key research area within animal behavioural studies, significantly affecting adaptive strategies, habitat selection, foraging behaviour, reproduction, dispersal, and other crucial survival behaviours. Despite the extensive study of personality traits like extraversion and curiosity across various animal species, data on wolves (), particularly on the subspecies level, remains sparse. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining boldness and its associated personality traits in different wolf subspecies (, ) ( = 23), and wolf-dog hybrids ( = 10), utilising novel object interaction tests and validated questionnaires previously applied to wild canids. Our results show significant differences in boldness as well as in related personality traits between taxa, both between pure wolves and wolf hybrids, with significantly higher boldness of North American subspecies. The inter-subspecies differences were more significant than the differences between groups or at the individual level, suggesting that subspecies ecology and historical selection pressure in subspecies history might have caused long-lasting adaptations in s ssp.
大胆——定义为个体冒险的倾向——是动物行为研究中的一个关键研究领域，对适应性策略、栖息地选择、觅食行为、繁殖、扩散及其他重要的生存行为有重大影响。尽管已经对各种动物物种的外向性和好奇心等个性特征进行了广泛研究，但关于狼的数据，特别是亚种层面的数据仍然稀少。本研究旨在通过利用新颖的物体互动测试和先前应用于野生犬科动物的经过验证的问卷，来研究不同狼亚种（，）（n = 23）和狼狗杂交种（n = 10）的大胆程度及其相关的个性特征，以填补这一空白。我们的结果表明，在分类群之间，无论是纯种狼还是狼杂交种，大胆程度以及相关个性特征都存在显著差异，北美亚种的大胆程度明显更高。亚种间差异比群体间或个体层面的差异更为显著，这表明亚种生态学和亚种历史中的历史选择压力可能导致了狼亚种的长期适应性变化。
