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Animals: They've Got Personality

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

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Nov. 2, 2007 -- "Personality" would seem to be an exclusive attribute of humans, since the very word reflects back on us, but several recent studies examining a wide range of species, from squid to horses and even insects, suggest we share the planet with a lot of unique characters.

Noted psychologist Lawrence Pervin has defined personality as "those characteristics of a person that account for consistent patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving." Non-humans are left out of the picture. Applied animal behaviorist Adele Lloyd of England's Bishop Burton College admits there are limits to applying such people-centric definitions to animals, especially since it's difficult to measure how animals think and feel.

Lloyd and her colleagues, however, believe it is possible to assess observed behavior "in order to demonstrate individual differences" in animals. It could even be that humans are the limiting factor, given the way we process information and self-compare. Nevertheless, Lloyd told Discovery News that anthropomorphism -- the use of human terms to describe animal behavior -- is much easier for us to deal with than statistical data quantifying animal behaviors.

Ask the Horse

The popular 1960s television show "Mister Ed," about a talking horse, took anthropomorphism to an improbable level, but Lloyd's recent work on horses indicates that at least particular types possess their own behavioral characteristics.

The study has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.

The researchers collected data on 1,223 horses of eight different breeds: Irish draught horses, thoroughbreds, Shetland ponies, Arabs, Highland ponies, Welsh ponies/cobs, American quarter horses and appaloosas. Horse owners, members of breed societies and other individuals provided the data by filling out a detailed "horse personality questionnaire."

Statistical analysis revealed that thoroughbreds, Welsh ponies/cobs and Arabs tend to be anxious and excitable, while Irish draught horses and Highland ponies are more mellow. Similarly, Arabs and thoroughbreds are largely social and inquisitive, while American quarter horses prefer to keep more to themselves.

As for dog breeding, human-induced selection influences many of these traits, suggesting that animals are born with certain characteristics. Lloyd said she does "believe that genetics will have a distinct contribution to an animal's personality," but its exact contribution, versus environmental influences and day-to-day factors, remains unknown.