IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0130474.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Context Matters: Multiple Novelty Tests Reveal Different Aspects of Shyness-Boldness in Farmed American Mink (Neovison vison)

Author

Listed:
  • Christina Lehmkuhl Noer
  • Esther Kjær Needham
  • Ann-Sophie Wiese
  • Thorsten Johannes Skovbjerg Balsby
  • Torben Dabelsteen

Abstract

Animal personality research is receiving increasing interest from related fields, such as evolutionary personality psychology. By merging the conceptual understanding of personality, the contributions to both fields of research may be enhanced. In this study, we investigate animal personality based on the definition of personality traits as underlying dispositional factors, which are not directly measurable, but which predispose individuals to react through different behavioural patterns. We investigated the shyness-boldness continuum reflected in the consistency of inter-individual variation in behavioural responses towards novelty in 47 farmed American mink (Neovison vison), which were raised in identical housing conditions. Different stages of approach behaviour towards novelty, and how these related within and across contexts, were explored. Our experimental design contained four tests: two novel object tests (non-social contexts) and two novel animated stimuli tests (social contexts). Our results showed consistency in shyness measures across multiple tests, indicating the existence of personality in farmed American mink. It was found that consistency in shyness measures differs across non-social and social contexts, as well as across the various stages in the approach towards novel objects, revealing that different aspects of shyness exist in the farmed American mink. To our knowledge this is the first study to reveal aspects of the shyness-boldness continuum in the American mink. Since the mink were raised in identical housing conditions, inherited factors may have been important in shaping the consistent inter-individual variation. Body weight and sex had no effect on the personality of the mink. Altogether, our results suggest that the shyness-boldness continuum cannot be explained by a simple underlying dispositional factor, but instead encompasses a broader term of hesitating behaviour that might comprise several different personality traits.

Suggested Citation

  • Christina Lehmkuhl Noer & Esther Kjær Needham & Ann-Sophie Wiese & Thorsten Johannes Skovbjerg Balsby & Torben Dabelsteen, 2015. "Context Matters: Multiple Novelty Tests Reveal Different Aspects of Shyness-Boldness in Farmed American Mink (Neovison vison)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-14, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0130474
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130474
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130474
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130474&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0130474?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pim Edelaar & David Serrano & Martina Carrete & Julio Blas & Jaime Potti & José Luis Tella, 2012. "Tonic immobility is a measure of boldness toward predators: an application of Bayesian structural equation modeling," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(3), pages 619-626.
    2. Charline Couchoux & Will Cresswell, 2012. "Personality constraints versus flexible antipredation behaviors: how important is boldness in risk management of redshanks (Tringa totanus) foraging in a natural system?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(2), pages 290-301.
    3. Kees van Oers & Margreet Klunder & Piet J. Drent, 2005. "Context dependence of personalities: risk-taking behavior in a social and a nonsocial situation," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 16(4), pages 716-723, July.
    4. Pablo Michelena & Angela M. Sibbald & Hans W. Erhard & James E. McLeod, 2009. "Effects of group size and personality on social foraging: the distribution of sheep across patches," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20(1), pages 145-152.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:cup:judgdm:v:2:y:2007:i::p:326-332 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Avichai Snir & Dudi Levy & Dian Wang & Haipeng Allan Chen & Daniel Levy, 2024. "Large Effects of Small Cues: Priming Selfish Economic Decisions," Papers 2405.03893, arXiv.org.
    3. Ralf H. J. M. Kurvers & Bart A. Nolet & Herbert H. T. Prins & Ronald C. Ydenberg & Kees van Oers, 2012. "Boldness affects foraging decisions in barnacle geese: an experimental approach," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(6), pages 1155-1161.
    4. Gabrielle Dubuc-Messier & Denis Réale & Philippe Perret & Anne Charmantier, 2017. "Environmental heterogeneity and population differences in blue tits personality traits," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(2), pages 448-459.
    5. Chen, Junlin & Zhao, Yingshuai, 2020. "High price or low price? An experimental study on a markdown pricing policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 240-254.
    6. Catherine Brandner, 2007. "Strategy selection during exploratory behavior: sex differences," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 2, pages 326-332, October.
    7. Li, Zhaofeng & Jiang, Yichuan, 2014. "Friction based social force model for social foraging of sheep flock," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 273(C), pages 55-62.
    8. L. García-Longoria & L. Z. Garamszegi & A. P. Møller, 2014. "Host escape behavior and blood parasite infections in birds," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(4), pages 890-900.
    9. Christina Rockwell & Pia O. Gabriel & Jeffrey M. Black, 2012. "Bolder, older, and selective: factors of individual-specific foraging behaviors in Steller’s jays," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(3), pages 676-683.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0130474. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.