As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 7 June 2013

Personality Is the Result of Nurture, Not Nature, Suggests Study On Birds

June 5, 2013 — Personality is not inherited from birth parents says new research on zebra finches.

External factors are likely to play a bigger part in developing the personality of an individual than the genes it inherits from its parents, suggests the study.

Researchers at the University of Exeter and the University of Hamburg investigated how personality is transferred between generations. They found that foster parents have a greater influence on the personalities of fostered offspring than the genes inherited from birth parents.

Dr Nick Royle from Biosciences at the University of Exeter said: "This is one of the first experiments to show that behaviour can be non-genetically transmitted from parents to offspring. Our study shows that in zebra finches, personality traits can be transmitted from one generation to another through behaviour not just genetics."

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