Shy sea lions may have a better shot at survival than their rambunctious siblings
Shier pups exhibited more variation in their behavior, a sign of an ability to adapt
Animal behavior is often consistent. Some individuals are consistently more aggressive, more exploratory, or more bold than others. It’s also repeatable: individuals behave consistently through time — they are shy when they are young and remain shy when adults. Animals have personalities just as much as humans. In populations where it is possible to study behavioral flexibility and environmental changes, researchers are finding out that different personalities may have different advantages.
A long-term study of Galápagos sea lions by a group at the Bielefeld University in Germany and Ecuadorian researchers sheds light on personality and response to stress. The Galápagos sea lions are an ideal large mammal species to study in the wild because they evolved in isolation from land predators, so they don’t fear humans and can be studied with minimal disturbance. The group has been studying a breeding population on the small islet of Caamaño in the Galapagos Islands since 2003, allowing them to identify individuals and report environmental changes and human disturbances.
