Wildlife conservation and animal temperament: causes and consequences of evolutionary change for captive, reintroduced, and wild populations
Open accessAbstract
We argue that animal temperament is an important concept for wildlife conservation science and review causes and consequences of evolutionary changes in temperament traits that may occur in captive‐breeding programmes. An evolutionary perspective is valid because temperament traits are heritable, linked to fitness and potentially subject to intense selection in captivity. Natural, sexual and artificial selection can cause permanent shifts in temperament, reducing the diversity of temperament traits, diversity that may be critical to reintroduction success. Breeding programmes that ignore temperament risk leading the captive population towards domestication. Furthermore, shifts in temperament may involve alterations in linked morphological and physiological traits, and selection may even change functional relationships between traits. Captive‐breeding programmes can reduce changes in temperaments by closely monitoring temperament traits, equalizing reproductive success between temperament morphs and using environmental enrichment to reduce captive stress. Under certain circumstances, knowledge about temperament may also provide a useful tool to optimize captive reproduction and to increase reintroduction success. Outside reintroduction programmes, temperament can mediate responses to human contact, hunting, exploitation, habitat fragmentation and disease transmission. Consideration of temperaments could strengthen both captive and wild conservation efforts.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Some authors have suggested that temperament traits can be heritable and linked to fitness, making them subject to selection pressure in captivity.
“Some authors have suggested that temperament traits can be heritable and linked to fitness, making them subject to selection pressure in captivity [129].”
From The visitor effect on zoo animals: implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare (2019) · cites this paper as [129]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Coping styles in animals: current status in behavior and stress-physiology
Koolhaas, J. M., Korte, S. M., De Boer, S. F., Van Der Vegt, B. J., Van Reenen, C. G., Hopster, H., De Jong, I. C., Ruis, M. A. W., & Blokhuis, H. J. (1999) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(99)00026-3 · Cited by 2,875 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…and even populations – differ in their behaviour in a consistent manner (animal science: Boissy, 1995; Grandin, 1998; psychology: Gosling, 2001; behavioural sciences: Clark & Ehlinger, 1987; Koolhaas et al., 1999; evolutionary ecology: Stamps, 1991; Wilson et al., 1994; Sih, Bell & Johnson, 2004).”
BackgroundRecolonizing Carnivores and Naïve Prey: Conservation Lessons from Pleistocene Extinctions
Berger, J., Swenson, J. E., & Persson, I.-L. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1056466 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
de Boer, S. F., van der Vegt, B. J., & Koolhaas, J. M. (2003) · Behavior Genetics · doi:10.1023/a:1025766415159 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Zhang, G., Swaisgood, R. R., & Zhang, H. (2004) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.10118 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 17
- Archer, J. (1973). Tests for emotionality in rats and mice: a review. Anim. Behav. 21, 205-235.
- Clemmons, J.R. & Buccholz, R. (1997). Behavioral approaches to conservation in the wild. New York: Cambridge Univer- sity Press.
- Dingemanse, N.J. (2003) Natural selection and avian person- ality in a fluctuating environment. Thesis, Utrecht Univer- sity, ISBN 90-6464877-8.
- Dingemanse, N.J., Both, C., Drent, P. & Tinbergen, J.M. (2004). Fitness consequences of avian personalities in a fluctuating environment. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 271, 847-852.
- Dingemanse, N.J., Both, C., van Noordwijk, A.J., Ruttenm, A.L. & Drent, P.J. (2003). Natal dispersal and personalities in great tits (Parus major). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 270, 741-747.
- Drent, P., van Oers, K. & van Noordwijk, A.J. (2003). Realised heritability of personalities in the great tit (Parus major). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 270, 45-51.
- Endler, J.A. (1986). Natural selection in the wild. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Festa-Bianchet, M. & Apollonio, M. (2003). Animal behaviour and wildlife conservation. Washington: Island Press.
- Godin, J.G.J. & Davis, S.A. (1995). Who dares, benefits - predator approach behavior in the guppy (Poecilia reticu- lata) deters predator pursuit. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 259, 193-200.
- Godin, J.G.J. & Dugatkin, L.A. (1996). Female mating preference for bold males in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 10262-10267.
- Gosling, L.M. & Sutherland, W.J. (2000). Behavior and conservation. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Grandin, T. (1998). Genetics and the behavior of domestic animals. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Manteca, X. & Deag, J.M. (1993). Individual differences in temperament of domestic animals: a review of methodol- ogy. Anim. Welf. 2, 247-268.
- van Oers, K., Drent, P.J. & van Noordwijk, A.J. (2004). Realized heritability and repeatability of risk-taking beha- vior in relation to avian personalities. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 271, 65-73.
- Pontier, D., Fromont, E., Courchamp, F., Artois, M. & Yoccoz, N.G. (1998). Retroviruses and sexual size di- morphism in domestic cats (Felis catus L.). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 265, 167-173.
- Travis, J.M.J. & Dytham, C. (1999). Habitat persistence, habitat availability and the evolution of dispersal. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. 266, 723-728.
- Walsh, R.N. & Cummins, R.A. (1976). The open-field test: a critical review. Psychol. Bull. 83, 482-504.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The visitor effect on zoo animals: implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare
Sherwen, S. L., & Hemsworth, P. H. (2019) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani9060366 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
“Researchers have highlighted the influence temperament can have on many core zoo goals, including conservation output from captive breeding and reintroduction programs [128,129], as well as zoo population management and social group”
BackgroundThe cognition of ‘nuisance’ species
Barrett, L. P., Stanton, L. A., & Benson-Amram, S. (2019) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.005 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
- Authors
- McDougall, P. T., Réale, D., Sol, D., & Reader, S. M.
- Affiliations
- McGill University (CA)
- Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- McDougall, P. T.
- Venue
- Animal Conservation
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-12-05
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39-48
- ISSN
- 1367-9430 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-1795
- OpenAlex
- W2100285054
- Cited by
- 341
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 8.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Animal Conservation (publishedVersion)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- animal temperament, captive breeding programs, reintroduction success, domestication, selective breeding, natural selection, sexual selection, heritability, environmental enrichment, human-wildlife interactions, habitat fragmentation, disease transmission, wildlife conservation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
