Bird personalities influenced by both age and experience, study shows

New research examines development of personality in birds

Date:  June 6, 2019

Source:  University of Alberta

For birds, differences in personality are a function of both age and experience, according to new research by University of Alberta biologists.

The study examined the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and winters in North Western Europe. The researchers studied 90 birds over a two year period, comparing behavioural and physiological traits of two age cohorts: adult and juvenile birds. Studying two age groups allowed the researchers to determine which changes were due to age versus time in captivity.

"During this time, birds had the same type of life experience, including varied diet," explained Kim Mathot, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology. "At the start of the experiments, individuals showed differences in their behaviour. We looked at whether these differences disappeared in the course of the study, which would suggest that there is something about individually variable experiences that helps maintain differences, because in our experiments, all these birds had the same experience."

The causes of variation among individual birds were different for different traits. For the birds in this study, individual differences in behaviour were maintained over the course of the study. But physiological traits, such as the size of each bird's gizzard, became more similar.

"The world isn't simple, so it makes sense that there isn't a straightforward answer for how and why individuals differ," added Mathot. "Nature is wonderfully complex. This is yet another example of that at play."

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Bird personalities influenced by age and experience, study shows

MAY 31, 2019

by Katie Willis, University of Alberta

Differences in the personalities of birds are related to both age and experience, according to new research by University of Alberta biologists.

The study examined the red knot, a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and winters in northwestern Europe. The researchers captured 90 birds and studied them over two years, comparing behavioural and physiological traits of adult and juvenile birds. Studying the two age groups allowed the researchers to determine which changes were due to age as opposed to time in captivity.

"During this time, birds had the same type of life experience, including varied diet," explained U of A biologist Kim Mathot, who is also Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology.

"At the start of the experiments, individuals showed differences in their behaviour. We looked at whether these differences disappeared in the course of the study, which would suggest there is something about individually variable experiences that helps maintain differences, because in our experiments, all these birds had the same experience."

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Behavioral ecology: Personalities promote adaptability

Date:  April 8, 2019

Source:  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Bold great tits lay their eggs earlier when under threat, the shy ones put it off. Such personality differences help maintain the biological variation essential for the survival of populations, as Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich biologists have now shown.

Bird populations can adapt to environmental change, as revealed by their flexible choice of the optimal time for rearing their chicks. Thus high temperatures induce them to begin nest building and egg-laying early in the year. In colder years, they tend to postpone the whole business until later. Natural selection favors such behavioral adaptability -- provided that the required variation is available, i.e. genetic variants are present that confer 'phenotypic plasticity' on local populations. A study of great tits (Parus major), carried out by LMU behavioral biologist Niels Dingemanse and his doctoral student Robin Abbey-Lee, has now shown that this adaptability is in part attributable to differences in character and 'personality' between individuals. Their findings appear in the online journal Nature Communications.

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City Slicker or Country Bumpkin: City-Life Changes Blackbird Personalities

June 19, 2013 — The origins of a young animal might have a significant impact on its behaviour later on in life. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany, have been able to demonstrate in hand-reared blackbirds that urban-born individuals are less curious and more cautious about new objects than their country counterparts. This study sheds light on an interesting debate on whether personality differences between rural and urban birds are behavioural adjustments to urban environments, or if there is an underlying evolutionary basis to the existence of different personalities in urban habitats.

It's something pet owners have always known: animals have personalities too. More than 100 species have so far been identified by scientists where individuals consistently follow distinct behavioural strategies and behave in similar ways in a variety of situations. Scientists believe that such differences may also be important in adapting to new habitats.

Urbanization has considerably changed the living conditions of many wild animals. Animals living in urban areas need to cope with new anthropogenically-altered living conditions. A textbook example is the European blackbird (Turdus merula). Historically a forest-dweller, the blackbird is now one of the most common bird species found in our cities. In these new habitats, the blackbird has changed its behaviour in many ways: urban blackbirds migrate less in the winter, breed earlier, and live in higher densities than their forest conspecifics.

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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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Which bird personality are you?

Most people have an email address these days and electronic mail has superseded letters and facsimiles as the primary way of written communication between individuals, particularly in businesses. However, the increased use of email has also resulted in the development of particular idiosyncratic patterns of emailing behaviour that can either delight or enrage. 

Researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of the West of Scotland have examined these different behaviours and matched them to typical bird-like behaviours. 

Dr Karen Renaud, senior lecturer in the School of Computing Science, explains, “Email has rapidly become a vital business communication tool and a lot of people we spoke to say they would not be able to do their jobs without it. However, many people have gripes about email. Some people find themselves checking email all the time, even during evenings, weekends and holidays, others complain about how other people behave when using email. When we analysed all the findings we realised we could categorise email behaviours and match them to the characteristics of some well-known birds.” 

The researchers identified a total of 12 bird-like characteristics of email users. 

Compulsive Woodpecker: Cannot resist reading email at all hours of the day and night. 

Hibernating Poorwill: Reads email only occasionally so that senders can never rely on them.

Caterwauling Peacock: Broadcasts emails to all and sundry, claiming that people “need to know” when actually is just a grandstanding.

Back-Covering Emu: Sends emails in order to be able to prove, at a later date, that the information was passed on. 

Echoing Mynah: Acknowledges all emails. For example engages in exchange something like: “thanks”, then “my pleasure”, then “thanks again”.

Boorish Parrot: Sends abusive or inappropriate emails and fails to understand why others get upset by them.

Night Owl: The midnight emailer who fails to understand that others do wish to have “time out”.

There was one type of bird associated with perfect email manners: The Robin.These people are admired for not allowing email to dictate their lives and making time to speak to people in person whenever they can.

Pesky Crow: “Leans” on others by means of email, sending multiple versions of the same document, or sending multiple emails about the same topic. This bird inspires fear and loathing in the hearts of other birds.

Buck-passing Cuckoo: Sends emails to others asking them to carry out some task she should do herself, and then leaves quickly and mimics the Incommunicado Ostrich so that the unfortunate recipient is left carrying the baby.

Camouflaging Woodcock: Uses blind copy to send copies of emails to other recipients without the main recipient’s knowledge. Unlike the Back-covering Emu, this bird is seldom seen in all its glory.

Hoarding Magpie: Keeps hundreds of emails in the inbox but can never find exactly the one they are looking for.

Lightning-Response Hummingbird: Responds immediately to email, and expects an immediate response in return.

“It is likely most people will be able to identify some of their email correspondents with these behaviours and perhaps even recognise their own email style. What the research really highlights is that email is a great source of stress for many people. Too often, email is used instead of a more suitable means of communication like actually talking to someone, Dr Renaud says. 

“People send email without thinking of the cost to the recipient, but if everyone does this we all become much less efficient and no-one wins. People need to think before they send an email -- is this the best way of communicating? Even if it is, still think before you click!” he added. 

The research, carried out with Judith Ramsay at the University of the West of Scotland, is published in Interfaces, the quarterly magazine of the British Computer Society.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/which-bird-personality-are-you/article3926774.ece