Snake personality: Differential effects of development and social experience

Skinner, Morgan; Brown, Stefaniya; Kumpan, L. Tamara; Miller, Noam

doi:10.1007/s00265-022-03227-0

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…However, the different magnitude of behavioural repeatability observed in our study across the three traits (0.05 to 0.69), as also found elsewhere (e.g. Debeffe et al 2015;McEvoy et al 2015;Wuez and Kruger 2015;Rohrer and Ferkin 2020), may be due to different ecological importance of these traits for the target species (Bell et al 2009;Skinner et al 2022). Alternatively, it is also possible that some of these traits are more sensitive to hormonal or energetic fluctuations than others.…”

Section: Temporal Stability In Behavioural Variationsupporting

confidence: 52%

Temporal repeatability of behaviour in a lizard: implications for behavioural syndrome studies

et al. 2023

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It is well established that, across taxa, individuals within populations exhibit consistent differences in their behaviour across time and/or contexts. Further, the functional coupling of traits may result in the formation of a behavioural syndrome. Despite extensive evidence on the existence of consistent among-individual differences in behaviour and behavioural syndromes in the animal realm, these findings are predominately based upon short-term assessments, leading to questions regarding their stability over longer periods. Understanding if these estimates are temporally stable would allow predictions of individual behaviour to be made using short-term repeated measures. Here, we used 57 adult male delicate skinks (Lampropholis delicata) to evaluate the stability of behavioural variation observed both among (animal personality and behavioural plasticity) and within individuals (behavioural predictability), as well as behavioural syndromes, across short (four weeks) and long (five months) timeframes. To do so, we repeatedly assayed activity, exploration, and boldness five times per each individual. Overall, our study revealed complex patterns of behavioural variation and trait (co)variation over time. Activity was always repeatable across time intervals, whereas behavioural differences among individuals in exploration and boldness were not consistent. Yet a behavioural syndrome between activity and exploration was detected at both shorter and longer temporal scales, suggesting that syndrome structure in these traits does not vary as a function of time. Our findings indicate that, at least for some traits (e.g. activity) and studies, short-term measures may be adequate in serving as a proxy for long-term variation in individual behaviour, and to reveal the existence of behavioural syndromes at the population level.

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Section: Temporal Stability In Behavioural Variationsupporting

confidence: 52%

Temporal repeatability of behaviour in a lizard: implications for behavioural syndrome studies

et al. 2023

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“…This disparity may be explained mainly by the effect of individual heterogeneity on spatial behavior, already demonstrated for other invasive snake species 82 . This spatial heterogeneity can be due to individual body condition affecting movement ecology 83 , individual personality influencing exploratory and defensive behaviors 84 or boldness and sociability 85 , as well as dispersive movements (such as may have happened with our individual 010). In addition, although some deaths are expected in this type of studies (e.g., due to tagging surgery, predators, health condition see 27 , 73 , 86 ), we noted a higher death rate than expected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial ecology to strengthen invasive snake management on islands

Maestresalas

Piquet

López-Darias

2023

Sci Rep

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Knowledge on the spatial ecology of invasive predators positively contributes to optimizing their management, especially when involving cryptic and secretive species, such as snakes. However, this information is lacking for most invasive snakes, particularly on islands, where they are known to cause severe ecological and socio-economic impacts. This research is focused on assessing the spatial ecology of the California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) on Gran Canaria to strengthen management actions. We monitored 15 radio-tagged individuals once per day on 9–11 days per month from July 2020 to June 2021 to calculate the species' home range and describe annual activity patterns in the invaded range. To account for the species' diel activity during the emergence period, we additionally monitored snakes from January to May 2021 during three consecutive days per month in four different time intervals each day. We detected movement (consecutive detections at least 6 m apart) in 31.68% of the 1146 detections during the whole monitoring period. Movements most frequently detected were shorter than 100 m (82.24%), and among them the range 0–20 m was the most recurrent (27.03%). The mean distance of movement was 62.57 ± 62.62 m in 1–2 days. Average home range was 4.27 ± 5.35 ha—calculated with the Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimator (AKDE) at 95%—and did not significantly vary with SVL nor sex. We detected an extremely low value of motion variance (0.76 ± 2.62 σ2m) compared to other studies, with a general inactivity period from November to February, January being the less active month of the year. Diel activity was higher during central and evening hours than during early morning and night. Our results should be useful to improve control programs for this invasive snake (e.g., trap placement and visual survey guidance) on Gran Canaria. Our research highlights the importance of gathering spatial information on invasive snakes to enhance control actions, which can contribute to the management of secretive invasive snakes worldwide.

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“…Although repeatability between our boldness assay and preference for EE was near to the ectotherm average [ 19 ], between-individual variability (an important component of personality) was low and the likelihood that the true repeatability was 0 was non-negligible. Boldness is a commonly observed trait in snakes ( Crotalus oreganus [ 26 ]; Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis [ 25 ]; Boa imperator [ 22 ]) and our inability to detect sufficient repeatability may be due to the extended duration of the EE preference assay: over multiple days, boldness-related variability in preference for EE may dissipate, as the risk-free cage environment becomes more familiar.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The potential role of personality traits in welfare and conservation is of increasing interest [ 21 ]. The few existing studies of personality in snake species ( Boa imperator [ 22 ]; Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]; Crotalus oreganus [ 26 ]) suggest that snakes of several species display consistent differences and that these internal biases have important effects on their behaviour, and may contain important lessons for their management and conservation [ 26 ]. Understanding the relationship between personality and enrichment may provide valuable insight into individual differences in enrichment use and preference.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Western Hognose Snakes (Heterodon nasicus) Prefer Environmental Enrichment

Nagabaskaran

Skinner

Miller

2022

Animals

Self Cite

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The environmental enrichment needs of snakes are often disregarded. Using preference testing, we aimed to shed light on the enrichment preferences of a popular pet species, the western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus). Snakes’ enclosures were divided into enriched and standard sides. The enriched half had substrate for burrowing, interactive stimuli, and a large water dish. The standard half had paper towel substrate and a small water dish. Each side also contained a single shelter. We provided belly heat to create a thermal gradient on one side of the cage. Snakes were observed for 6 days, four times daily. We predicted a preference for enriched conditions and, as snakes are ectothermic, a preference for the warmer side. Snakes were additionally given an exploration assay, to explore whether differences in preference for environmental enrichment interact with boldness levels. We found that hognose snakes preferred enrichment, and the strength of this preference increased over time. Preference for enrichment was stronger when the enriched side was cooler. This may be due to the burrowing tendencies of these snakes. We found no relationship between preference and boldness. These findings emphasise the importance of preference testing in establishing research-informed enrichment opportunities for reptiles.

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Snake personality: Differential effects of development and social experience

Cited by 14 publications

References 79 publications

Temporal repeatability of behaviour in a lizard: implications for behavioural syndrome studies

Temporal repeatability of behaviour in a lizard: implications for behavioural syndrome studies

Spatial ecology to strengthen invasive snake management on islands

Western Hognose Snakes (Heterodon nasicus) Prefer Environmental Enrichment

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