Frontiers in Zoology · 5 authors, 6 centres
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This study tested whether personality traits (boldness and exploration) influenced the foraging patch use of Japanese quail in two experiments with different inter-patch distances (2 m and 3 m). The central result was that proactive (bolder and more explorative) individuals had longer feeding time, higher food intake, and, in the 2 m experiment, changed patches more frequently with shorter residence times than reactive individuals.
In two separate experiments with inter-patch distances of 2 m and 3 m, researchers measured six foraging variables. Results showed proactive individuals consistently had longer total feeding time and higher total food intake across both experiments. In the 2 m distance experiment, proactive birds also exhibited a higher frequency of patch shifts and shorter mean patch residence times during both the first and last halves of the trial. These personality effects were not significant for the same variables in the 3 m distance experiment. The study found no significant effects of sex or body weight on foraging variables. The findings suggest that animal personality is an important factor in foraging strategies and that its influence may be moderated by environmental factors like inter-patch distance.
