A Single Personality Trait May Determine if Male Albatrosses Get Divorced

It is the first time that personality has been shown to predict divorce in a wild animal.

The most monogamous animals are the albatrosses, which have the largest wingspan of any bird at more than three meters.

They can live for more than 50 years, and they meet up every two years with the same partner to breed.

13 percent of the time, divorce is a rare event, according to the lead author of a new study.

If they find that their breeding success is too low with a specific partner, they may look for another one.

The researchers used a database to find out how an individual bird's personality affects their likeliness of divorce.

Scientists have been following a colony of albatrosses on Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago since 1959.

The co-author of the study said that they put a ring on the leg.

She said it allowed the team to reconstruct the history of the birds because they were not scared.

Sun said the birds breed every two years because they take a whole year to rear their chick and they don't spend time with each other.

Shy guys finish last

The researchers measured the boldness of nearly 2,000 birds by observing how they respond to a human.

They found that shyer male albatrosses were more likely to divorce than their bolder rivals.

Sun said that they showed for the first time the link between personality and divorce in a wild species.

The study said that albatrosses have elaborate courting processes as they raise up their wings and dance around.

A man and woman try to cut in during the process. Men who are shy avoid confrontation and accept divorce during that time.

There are other factors that affect divorce rates.

Female albatrosses are more likely to get caught up in fishing lines than males.

It can take males more than four years to find a new mate because of the surplus of males.

People who are in long-term relationships are less likely to divorce than people who are new to each other.

Climate change may be driving albatrosses to divorce as they have to travel farther to find fewer fish.

Agence France- Presse.