Age-dependent repeatability measurements of individual behavioural traits in Eurasian harvest mice (#306)
Animal
personalities are known as consistent individual behaviours throughout time and
across different situations. Recent data contradict the previous basic
assumption of sex and age independent individual consistency. For example, males
and females may differ in the repeatability of behavioural traits. Furthermore,
activity seems to be the most consistent trait at different life history stages
of rodents, while boldness and exploration show less consistency. Individual
and temporal variance in behavioural consistency may therefore depend on sex
and age classes, but also on the variance in expected future reproductive
success. If so, sexual experience may have an impact on behavioural
consistency, a currently little explored hypothesis. We measured the
repeatability of four behavioural traits in Eurasian harvest mice (Micromys minutus). We compared
repeatability estimates among four different age classes before and after
maturation, and before and after the first sexual experience. We predicted that
activity parameters show more consistent repeatabilities in all age classes
compared to boldness and exploration. Due to a more stable environment for
animals without sexual contact, we further assumed that adult mice without
sexual contact show more repeatable behaviours compared to individuals which
experienced sexual contact between tests. Our results indicate that harvest
mice behaved repeatable in all age classes. Activity in an Open Field test was highly
repeatable independent of age, but activity measured in a Y Maze showed less
consistent repeatability measurements. The repeatability estimates of Y Maze activity
increased significantly with age, but unexpectedly, boldness and exploration showed
consistent repeatability patterns. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, adult
mice behaved repeatable irrespective of their sexual experiences. We conclude
that Eurasian harvest mice show highly consistent individual behaviours independent
of age classes, despite the fact that repeatability in Y Maze activity
increased significantly with age. Furthermore, sexual experience does not influence
behavioural consistency in this species.