"How not to judge a deer by its cover": A personality assessment study on captive adult red deer males (Cervus elaphus).

摘要: Abstract Personality is not a uniquely human characteristic and it has been documented in wide range of organisms, from mammals to birds, reptiles, fish, invertebrates. However, personality still poorly understood Cervids. Therefore, our study aimed fill this gap by i) investigating ii) exploring its links dominance hierarchy, assessed behavioral observations 11 captive tame male red deer (Cervus elaphus). Using questionnaires assess personality, three trained volunteers rated these animals 15 behaviorally composed adjectives with detailed descriptions, based on their overall impression at the end observation period. Behavioral data were collected across different situations, namely “feeding” (i.e., high competition for scarce resource), “normal” no external stimuli) group setting, “handling” stressful situation due manipulation) an individual setting. We estimated hierarchies between individuals situations average “feeding”) via Clutton-Brock Index (CBI). Fleiss’ Kappa inter-rater reliability, only five showed acceptable reliability. principal component analysis, four formed one labelled “Confidence/Aggressiveness”. found that although “Confidence/Aggressiveness” did correlate CBI, ratings two loading onto component, “Confident” “Submissive”, significantly correlated indicating questionnaire reflect real variation males. Our provides first assessment adds growing literature Cervid offering basis future research ungulates.