Personality does not constrain social and behavioural flexibility in African striped mice

Abstract

The development and persistence of personality in nature are counterintuitivebecause,in heterogeneous environ- ments, personality is expected to limit the degree of behav- ioural flexibility. Recent work has shown that personality and behavioural flexibility might be linked, but their interaction is not well understood and could be elucidated by studying a socially flexible species. Using well-established tests, we measured the personality traits of activity, boldness, explora- tion and aggressiveness in free-living striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) in South Africa. Specifically, we tested whether personality changes when individuals change their reproductive tactic, either from group-living philopatrics to solitary-living females and roaming males or from non- breeding philopatrics to breeders. Our results showed that striped mice have personalities: Individuals behaved consis- tently for all the behavioural traits measured both over time and contexts (breeding to non-breeding season). While most of the personality traits measured remained consistent among tactics, they did not predict which tactic an individual would adopt next, suggesting that environmental conditions rather than personality influence tactic switching. Additionally, we found important differences in the consistency of the behav- iours measured between males and females, indicating that sexual selection might play a prominent role in the mainte- nance of personality in this species. Our study demonstrates that some personality traits can be stable over an entire life- time even in socially flexible species and that personality does not constrain social flexibility.