Linking animal personality to problem-solving performance in urban common brushtail possums
Section snippets
Ethical Note
This study was approved by the University of Sydney Animal Ethics Committee (Permit No. 2018/1416) and the Office of Environment and Heritage of New South Wales (Scientific Licence No. SL102186). We trapped individuals using Tomahawk cage traps (63 x 25 cm and 25 cm high), covered to protect animals from the elements. Traps were set at the base of large trees, hidden away from foot traffic. Because possums are nocturnal, traps were set just before sunset (ca 1900–2000 hours) and checked between 2230
Repeatability and Correlation of Personality
We detected and quantified six personality traits (P ≤ 0.004, Appendix Table A1; with repeatable range 0.19–0.54, P ≤ 0.002, Table 1). Exploration was correlated positively with activity and boldness, and negatively with docility, indicating that these variables were part of a four-trait proactive–reactive behavioural syndrome (Appendix Table A2).
Problem-solving: First Trial
Only seven (26%) of the 27 individuals (four pushes, three pulls) succeeded in solving the first escape box test. Both personality and mechanistic
Discussion
Our results show that several personality traits, exploration, activity and vigilance, as well as mechanistic behaviours used during the problem-solving task, predicted the likelihood of possums solving the escape box test in the first trial. The effect of task type was significant in most models, confirming that they were functionally different problems, with the task of pulling the door to escape more difficult than pushing it. We also showed that possums are capable of learning: individuals
Acknowledgments
We thank A. I. Rus for assisting in building the escape box apparatus, and all volunteers for assisting in fieldwork. We also thank three anonymous referees for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.
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