Animal personality can be defined as conspecific individuals consistently differing in behavioral tendencies. Personality is typically identified by behavioral repeatability, which occurs when within‐individual variance is low relative to among‐individual variance in the population. Intraspecific comparisons of behavioral repeatability in juveniles and adults within and across years are rare, but would be useful for testing hypotheses related to origins of animal personality and whether individuals exhibit stable or diverging behavior with ontogeny. To examine within‐ and across‐year behavioral repeatability for eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina), we assessed boldness (movement latency after brief confinement) of captive‐born juveniles twice within three days when eight months old. We then repeated these tests for the same individuals one year later. Juveniles exhibited repeatable boldness within and across years. Although increasing body temperature was slightly associated with decreased movement latency, test year (1 or 2), or housing experience (being raised in an enriched or unenriched condition) had no effects on boldness. We also assessed across‐year repeatability of boldness (head emergence from the shell after brief confinement) for wild adults at 1–3 year intervals. Adults also exhibited repeatable across‐year boldness that was of similar magnitude to juveniles. We found no indication that sex class or whether adults had been radio‐tracked influenced boldness. Our results suggest eastern box turtles demonstrate consistent individuality in boldness from an early age that is largely unaffected by temporal or environmental variation, and these behavioral differences can be maintained for multiple years in captivity and the wild, contrasting with theoretical expectations for personality development. These findings add to recent accumulating evidence demonstrating juvenile and adult box turtles exhibit multiple repeatable behaviors over the short‐ and long‐term. We suggest this species is quickly gaining traction as a model organism for studying the proximate and ultimate causes of personality development within long‐lived animals.

中文翻译：

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野生成年龟和圈养幼龟（Terrapene carolina）的长期行为可重复性：对人格发展的影响

动物人格可以定义为行为倾向始终不同的同种个体。人格通常通过行为可重复性来识别，当个体内方差相对于总体中的个体间方差较低时，就会发生这种情况。幼鱼和成鱼在几年内和跨年的行为可重复性的种内比较很少见，但可用于测试与动物性格起源相关的假设，以及个体是否表现出稳定或不同的个体发育行为。为了检查东部箱龟（Terrapene carolina）在年内和跨年的行为可重复性，我们在八个月大的三天内两次评估了圈养出生的幼龟的胆量（短暂禁闭后的运动潜伏期）。一年后，我们对同一个人重复了这些测试。青少年在几年内和跨年表现出可重复的大胆。尽管体温升高与运动潜伏期减少略有关联，但测试年份（1 或 2 年）或住房经验（在丰富或不丰富的条件下饲养）对大胆没有影响。我们还以 1-3 年的时间间隔评估了野生成虫的跨年可重复性（短暂禁闭后从壳中出现头部）。成年人也表现出可重复的跨年胆量，与青少年相似。我们没有发现性别等级或成年人是否被无线电跟踪影响胆量的迹象。我们的研究结果表明，东部箱龟从小就表现出一致的个性，在很大程度上不受时间或环境变化的影响，这些行为差异可以在圈养和野外保持多年，这与人格发展的理论预期形成鲜明对比。这些发现增加了最近积累的证据，证明幼年和成年箱龟在短期和长期内表现出多种可重复的行为。我们认为该物种作为研究长寿动物人格发展的近因和最终原因的模式生物正在迅速获得关注。与人格发展的理论预期形成对比。这些发现增加了最近积累的证据，证明幼年和成年箱龟在短期和长期内表现出多种可重复的行为。我们认为，该物种作为研究长寿动物人格发展的近因和最终原因的模式生物正在迅速获得关注。与人格发展的理论预期形成对比。这些发现增加了最近积累的证据，证明幼年和成年箱龟在短期和长期内表现出多种可重复的行为。我们认为该物种作为研究长寿动物人格发展的近因和最终原因的模式生物正在迅速获得关注。