Assessing neophobia and exploration while accounting for social context: an example application in scimitar-horned oryx

Abstract

Spatial neophobia and exploration are often assessed in nonhuman animals by measuring behavioral responses to novel environments. These traits may especially affect the performance of individuals translocated to novel environments for conservation purposes. Here, we present methods to administer and analyze a minimally invasive novel environment test that accounts for the social context of focal individuals. We used an aerial platform to capture video footage of a captive herd of scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) entering an unfamiliar enclosure. We analyzed footage for seven individually identifiable oryx, scoring their behavioral responses (i.e., latency to enter the enclosure, and movement and posture after entering the enclosure) and social context (i.e., relative position and number of nearby animals). We performed a principal components analysis (PCA) to explore individual traits and responses, and used generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to determine the effect of individual traits and social context on individual posture and movement behaviors. Both PCA and GLMMs supported our expectation that social context affects individual behavior: high neighbor density and relative position were negatively related to individual movement, and variation in social context was positively related with head-up postures and movement. Oryx were well differentiated along two principal components that reflected (1) vigilance or caution, and (2) changing social context and age. These methods provide a framework for assessing individual responses to a novel environment in a group setting, which can inform reintroduction and wildlife management efforts, while minimizing interference with animal behavior and management operations.