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Individuality in animals: applying personality profiles to evidence-based management of small mammals in education
Secondary Supervisor(s): Dr Holly Vickery
University of Registration: Harper Adams University
BBSRC Research Themes: Sustainable Agriculture and Food (Animal Health and Welfare)
Project Outline
Live animals, particularly small mammals, are routinely used to teach practical skills in educational institutions (McGreevey et al., 2007), which puts thousands of animals at risk of reduced welfare if the impact of these experiences is not understood. The applicants are currently working with UK Animal Care Technicians and colleagues in education to develop evidence-based approaches to animal care. Data is currently being collected on species holdings and animal practicals. Results will inform the model species used in this PhD. Some small mammals in education show behavioural changes between weekdays and weekends, and individual differentiation in behaviour (Sadler et al., 2024) and ability to learn tasks (Haston, 2024). Personalities influence how individuals perceive, react to, and interact with their environment, conspecifics and threats (Talbot et al, 2021). The importance of incorporating animal personality into evidence-based management of zoo animals has been highlighted (Tetley and O’Hara, 2012; Watters and Powell, 2012). Determining whether certain personality types are predisposed to positive or negative responses to unfamiliar people has ramifications for animals and should be considered in management. Within the educational setting, there is no reliable or validated way of measuring individuality in small mammals. There is an urgent need to incorporate individual differences into evidence-based management of small mammals in education and to validate methods for collecting such data. This work will complement a PhD (supervised by the project team), developing validated welfare assessment protocols for small mammals in education. The work proposed will enable refinement of those protocols, incorporating individualised approaches to animal care.
Objectives and methods
1. Create a validated method for capturing personality for small mammals in education
A literature review will be performed to identify methods of personality assessment applicable to small mammals. Concurrently the student will work with stakeholders to develop subjective assessment protocols. Experimental work will determine practicality and feasibility of the personality assessment methods, including using quantitative analytical approaches (e.g. bayesian modelling) to understand the relationship between outputs from personality assessment protocols.
2. Monitor stability of small mammal personality over time in relation to the academic calendar (e.g. term time, out of term time)
Personality can vary over time (Rutherford et al., 2024). Once reliable and valid personality assessment protocols have been developed these will be applied during longitudinal monitoring, measuring change over time and test re-test reliability.
3. Quantify the impacts of personality on health and experiences for small animals in education
Experiments will be undertaken using cross disciplinary protocols to understand interactions between animal personality, health and responses to activities undertaken as part of non-clinical education programmes. Focus will be on behavioural and physiological assessments to quantify the links between personality, behaviour more generally, animal health (e.g. Body condition) and physiological parameters (E.g. cortisol).
4. Design evidence-based protocols for assessing and using personality in small animal management in education
Information garnered during the PhD will be used to design evidence-based protocols which can be applied in educational establishments to select individuals most suitable for use, based on behavioural profiles.
This project will involve exciting collaborations between behavioural, social and data scientists, and industry partners. The student will work with colleagues at multiple sites. The project will: identify whether some personality types are more favourable in educational settings, explore the impact of these on animal welfare and enable an understanding of whether this impact can be managed.
Key References
Watters JV, Powell DM. Measuring animal personality for use in population management in zoos: suggested methods and rationale. Zoo Biol. 2012 Jan-Feb;31(1):1-12. doi: 10.1002/zoo.20379. Epub 2011 Mar 1. PMID: 21370251.
Vickery, H.M., Johansen, F.P., Meagher, R.K., 2024. Evaluating the consistency of dairy goat kids’ responses to two methods of assessing fearfulness. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 272, 106209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106209.
Jolivald A, Ijichi C, Hall C, Yarnell K. 2023. The mane factor: Compliance is associated with increased hair cortisol in the horse. Applied Animal Behaviour Science.