Social experience promotes the exploratory behaviour in Java Sparrows

Abstract

Personality widely exists in diverse animal taxa. Such inter-individual variance in behaviour is supposed to be influenced by social context. However, it remains unknown whether the experience of social life has any carryover effects on the subsequent expression of personality. Here, we examined exploratory behaviour in caged Java Sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora) using exploration assays. Birds were assigned to live in either a solitary or a social context for four weeks. We compared the expressions of exploration before and after the treatments, and found that birds showed higher exploration tendencies after than before social life, while the isolated birds were consistent in their exploratory behaviours. Different living experience led to differences in the exploration activities for birds without significant differences in exploration before. Our results indicate that social experience can make birds more proactive.

Keywords

• Animal behaviour
• Animal personality
• Exploratory behaviour
• Lonchura oryzivora
• Social experience