Social personality traits in chimpanzees: temporal stability and structure of behaviourally assessed personality traits in three captive populations |
| |
Authors: | Sonja E Koski |
| |
Institution: | 1.Department of Biological Anthropology, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies,University of Cambridge,Cambridge,UK;2.Anthropological Institute and Museum,University of Zürich,Zurich,Switzerland |
| |
Abstract: | Animals of many species show consistency in behaviour across time and contexts that differs from other individuals' behaviour
in the same population. Such ‘personality’ affects fitness and has therefore become an increasingly relevant research topic
in biology. However, consistent variation in social behaviour is understudied. In socially living species, behaviour occurs
in a social environment and social interactions have a significant influence on individual fitness. This study addressed personality
in social behaviour of 75 captive chimpanzees in three zoos by coding observed behaviour. Fifteen behavioural variables were
significantly repeatable (range 0.21–0.93) in at least two of the three zoos. The behaviours showed considerable long-term
stability across 3 years, which did not differ from the short-term repeatability. The repeatable behaviours were then analysed
with factor analyses. They formed five independent factors, three of which consisted of social traits and were labelled ‘sociability’,
‘positive affect’ and ‘equitability’. The two non-social behaviour factors were labelled ‘anxiety’ and ‘activity’. The factor
scores were analysed for sex and population differences. Males had higher factor scores in all traits except ‘sociability’.
The factor scores differed also between the zoos, implying considerable external effects in trait expression. The results
show that chimpanzees show personality in a broad range of social and non-social behaviours. The study highlights the importance
of assessing personality in the social behaviour, especially in cohesive social species, as only then can we understand the
consequences of personality in socially living species. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|