Amici, F., Widdig, A., Lehmann, J., & Majolo, B. (2019). A meta-analysis of interindividual differences in innovation. Anim. Behav., 155, 257–268.
Abstract: The ability to innovate and the social transmission of innovations have played a central role in human evolution. However, innovation is also crucial for other animals, by allowing them to cope with novel socioecological challenges. Although innovation plays such a central role in animals' lives, we still do not know the conditions required for innovative behaviour to emerge. Here, we focused on interindividual differences in innovation by (1) extensively reviewing existing literature on innovative behaviour in animals and (2) quantitatively testing the different evolutionary hypotheses that have been proposed to explain interindividual variation in innovation propensity during foraging tasks. We ran a series of phylogenetically controlled mixed-effects meta-regression models to determine which hypotheses (if any) are supported by currently available empirical studies. Our analyses show that innovation is more common in individuals that are older and belong to the larger sex, but also in more neophilic and/or explorative individuals. Moreover, these effects change depending on the study setting (i.e. wild versus captive). Our results provide no clear support to the excess of energy or the bad competitor hypotheses and suggest that study setting and interindividual differences in traits related to personality are also important predictors of innovation.
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Sackman, J. E., & Houpt, K. A. (2018). Equine Personality: Association with Breed, Use and Husbandry Factors. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, .
Abstract: Abstract
Temperament can be defined as innate properties of the nervous system whereas personality includes the complex behavioral traits acquired through life. Association between personality and behavior is important for breeding, selection, and training of horses. For the first time, we evaluated if equine personality components previously identified in Japan and Europe were consistent when applied to American horses. We examined the association of personality with breed, age, sex, management, training, stereotypies and misbehaviors.
Materials and Methods
The owner directed personality survey consisted of 25 questions. An online version of the survey was created. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to associate behavioral traits with personality components. Factor analysis with orthogonal transformation was performed on scores for personality related questions.
Results
847 survey responses were used. Quarter horses, “other” breed and Thoroughbred were the most common breeds. Three principal personality components were extracted as each behavioral trait belonged to one of these three components. Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds and Walking horses were the most nervous and Quarter horses, Paints, Appaloosas and Drafts were the least nervous. No trained discipline was significantly associated with any personality component. There were no significant associations between stereotypies and misbehaviors and nervous or curious personality.
Conclusions
For the first time in predominantly American horses, we have evaluated personality components and their association with breed, age, sex, training discipline and stereotypies. We refute links between personality and trained discipline and confirm the lack of association between nervous personality and stereotypies and misbehaviors.
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Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (2015). Social cognition. Animal Behaviour, 103, 191–202.
Abstract: The social intelligence hypothesis argues that competition and cooperation among individuals have shaped the evolution of cognition in animals. What do we mean by social cognition? Here we suggest that the building blocks of social cognition are a suite of skills, ordered roughly according to the cognitive demands they place upon individuals. These skills allow an animal to recognize others by various means; to recognize and remember other animals' relationships; and, perhaps, to attribute mental states to them. Some skills are elementary and virtually ubiquitous in the animal kingdom; others are more limited in their taxonomic distribution. We treat these skills as the targets of selection, and assume that more complex levels of social cognition evolve only when simpler methods are inadequate. As a result, more complex levels of social cognition indicate greater selective pressures in the past. The presence of each skill can be tested directly through field observations and experiments. In addition, the same methods that have been used to compare social cognition across species can also be used to measure individual differences within species and to test the hypothesis that individual differences in social cognition are linked to differences in reproductive success.
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Maros, K., Kovács, R., & Nagy, K. (2015). Questionnaire survey personality assessment of horses of different use. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3. International Equine Science Meeting. Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: We collected data from 248 horses of different breeds, age, sex and use, forming four groups: 74 trotters, 70 gallop horses, 60 horseback archery horses and 44 police horses. All horses were trained and ridden/driven in a regular base. Caretakers or owners who were familiar with the target animals were asked to assess their horses’ temperament. The temperament scores were obtained with the 7-point scale questionnaire according to the Horse Personality Questionnaire which has 25 items and has previously been shown to be reliable for the assessment of personality in horses. It measures six personality components in horses: Dominance, Anxiousness, Excitability, Protection, Sociability and Inquisitiveness.
Component scores were calculated according to Lloyd, A.S., Martin, J.E., Bornett-Gauci, H.L.I., Wilkinson, R.G. (2008) Horse personality: Variation between breeds. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 112. 369–383. The component scores were compared across the four examined groups using the Kruskal–Wallis test. Post hoc multiple comparisons tests were then carried out to explore specific breed differences on each component. The value of alpha was set at 0.05 for all statistical tests.
Groups differed significantly regarding Anxiousness and Excitability, but no significant differences were found regarding Dominance, Protection, Sociability or Inquisitiveness among groups. This finding is in line with the findings of Lloyd et al. (2008) who showed that Anxiousness and Excitability components have the highest level of variation between breeds.In our study, gallop horses had the highest rank regarding Excitability and they differed significantly from police horses which had the lowest rank for this personality component. Interestingly gallop horses had the lowest rank regarding Anxiousness, and trotters got the highest rank in in this component.
According to our results gallop horses are the most extreme in their personality. It is conceivable that being excitable is a more favourable trait for a race horse than for a working police horse. However, it is interesting that trotters are more anxious than gallop horses since they also have a high thoroughbred ancestry. The effect of work and training on these horses needs further surveys.
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Graf, P., König von Borstel, U., & Gauly, M. (2014). Practical considerations regarding the implementation of a temperament test into horse performance tests: Results of a large-scale test run. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 9(6), 329–340.
Abstract: Abstract Considering the ever-growing demand of various breeding organizations for an objective, inexpensive, reliable, and easily conducted assessment of the behavior of horses, the aim of our study was to implement a novel-object test and a startling test into any kind of breeding performance testing to assess horses' temperament. Additionally, the influence of testing areas (familiar or unfamiliar), riders, and horse factors such as levels of training, breed, and age were of interest. Furthermore, recommendations for the practical implementation concerning the parameters should be given. Therefore, 1,028 horses over a period of 3 years participated in a temperament test consisting of 5 different stimuli. The horses were either ridden (61.8 %) or led by hand (38.2 %) by an unfamiliar professional rider (N = 43) or a familiar rider (N = 20). Live behavioral observations were taken by a trained observer. Overall, horses' scores for reactivity in the present temperament test were distributed over the whole scale, with lower means and higher standard deviations (6.7 ± 2.2-7.6 ± 2.1) than corresponding scores from the conventional personality evaluation in performance tests (7.7 ± 0.8-8.2 ± 0.5; P < 0.01). High correlations (r = 0.3-0.9; P < 0.001) between the scores for reactivity and the other behavioral parameters (emotional expression, activity, time to calm down, rider's aids) show a large influence of these parameters in assessing the horses' temperament. Factors like breed type, sex, and age had significant influences (P < 0.001) on different scores of the temperament test. In most cases, the rider or handler had no influence on the different scores assessed during the temperament test. The training level and the testing modus never had a significant influence on different scores. Only the testing station or location had a small influence on the scores for the stimulus “bridge” in some horses. Based on the results, it could be concluded that an implementation of a temperament tests into performance testing is possible during various types of testing procedure. Especially the assessment of reactivity, emotional expression, interest in the stimulus and rider's aids during and after passing the stimulus, as well as the time to calm down are important parameters for analyzing the horses' personality.
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