In August, a mountain lion was spotted several times in the suburbs of New Canaan. A decade ago, a young mountain lion made its way to Connecticut, prowling more than 1,500 miles from the Black Hills of South Dakota before it was killed crossing a highway.
The exploratory personality of the tawny felines is what stands out to Malcolm L. Hunter, Jr., a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Maine.
He said that the individual young mountain lion that left South Dakota and ended up being run over by a car in Connecticut was not a timid fellow.
Wildlife biologists study factors like the abundance of prey, habitat quality and behavior to assess the roles animals hold in particular ecosystems. A growing number of scientists argue that the range of personality traits in individual animals is missing. Some scientists think thatbacteria are unique.
A recipient of a National Science Foundation career grant, Alessio Mortelliti is an expert in rodents.
The five animal personality traits are boldness, aggressiveness, activity, exploratory tendency and sociability. Over time and across contexts, these qualities need to be present.
The co-author of a paper that urged scientists to incorporate such studies in the field of ecology said that wild animals are not just little duplicative automatons doing what they do.
It is not like a litter of puppies or a box of kittens, where every animal is different. The personality ripples through natural processes in the wild.
Charles Darwin referred to earthworms astimid, neat and tidy in his last book. The study found that earthworms were different in their ability to solve problems.
Dr. Hunter said that one personality trait that cuts across a lot of species is the extent to which some individuals are more curious, more exploratory, and willing to stick their neck out.
Understanding animal personality paints a full picture of the natural world, some experts say, and burrows into individual differences much deeper than behavioral ecology. It plays a role in every aspect of their lives.
The zebra finches were placed in a cage to see how different personality types find a mate and how that affects parenting.
It's clear that more complex animals, including wolves, bears, dolphins, whales and many birds, have highly developed personality that mirror human characteristics.
The Giefer grizzly had a penchant for breaking and entering. The big bear, which weighed more than 500 pounds, would smash out windows or doors in unoccupied summer cabins along the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana in the 1980's to help itself to flour, sugar or whatever food had been left behind. The bear stole from some cabins.
He wouldn't come into traps, and he was very difficult to capture. He was not real. We tried everything we could to catch this bear.
A hunter in British Columbia killed the Giefer grizzly.
Pack cohesion is dependent on the alpha female. The matriarchal societies have strong leaders who will pin down and discipline wolves. The pack can often collapse when an alpha female dies.
Scientists say that taking one type of individual out can affect evolution. As climate change forces some species to light out for more suitable living conditions, a trait that could be especially important is the ability to adapt to novel terrain and circumstances.
The effects of animal personality on ecology can be profound.
Rodents play a key role in forest regeneration. If a mouse scampering across a forest floor comes upon a seed, its personality may lead it to eat it immediately, which means it won't grow into a plant. A new plant could be created if the mouse buries the seed. For example, shy individuals are dispersed seeds farther by bolder animals. A hawk or owl are more likely to attack a bold animal.
The Rorschach is an animal version of theRodent personality. A mouse is placed in a box. A mouse's tendency to spend time near the corners or walls is indicative of shyness, while boldness is shown by those who move to the center. The mouse is placed in a small bag to measure stress response or studied in an open field for its response to novelty.
The animals are marked with a tag and released. He said that when they pass by an antenna, the chip reads the name of the individual who got the seeds and what they did with them. More than 3000 rodents have been assessed for their personality.
The balance of personality types can be altered by how a forest is managed.
With a forest that is relatively natural, you have a nice distribution of bold and shy.
As plants shift their range to keep pace with an altered climate, mice and squirrels will be put in contact with new, strange looking seeds, and they will be needed to distribute them.
The risk of interacting with that seed will have an effect on the plant's ability to adapt to climate change.
Changing the course of evolution by modifying landscapes favors certain types of personality. It could have an effect on whether forests can adapt to a changing world. He said that the key is a diversity of personality on the landscape.
Natural selection has promoted this variation in personality because it is more beneficial to have different personality types.
Territoriality among species is determined by aggression. An animal is placed in front of a mirror to see how it responds to a rival. The winner of the most aggressive contest?
The American red squirrel is incredible, said Dr. Mortelliti, who has administered personality tests to rodents around the world. They are the only species where you can conduct a measurement on them, you release them, they go up on a tree and yell at you. They are feisty and territorial.
There is still a lot of research to be done before specific forest management recommendations can be made.
Iain is a researcher at the University of Konstanz in Germany who studies swarm intelligence, how fish come together to form a school or birds soar and dive in unison. He thinks the idea of animal personality is overblown.
Darwin was aware of individual differences in animals. I don't like the term personality. The whole process is subject to change.
It's a good way to view animal behavior.
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