Differences In Animal Behavior Research Articles

Experimental Study of Animal’s Behavior under the Influence of an Electromagnetic Field of the 5G Mobile Communication Standard

A pilot experimental study was carried out to assess the effect of an unmodulated and modulated electromagnetic field of the 5G mobile communication standard on the central nervous system of animals. Mature male Wistar rats were exposed to electromagnetic fields with a frequency of 4.9 GHz and an intensity of 250 MW/cm2 for 15 days for 2 hours a day. The animals of the two irradiated groups and the control group were in identical conditions in a semi-anechoic shielded chamber. The effect of the electromagnetic field on the functional state of the central nervous system was assessed by a comprehensive analysis of behavior patterns in the “open field” test before and after irradiation. The study did not reveal clear differences in animal behavior when exposed to an unmodulated and modulated 5G electromagnetic field. Statistically significant changes in animal behavior were recorded in the dynamics of the experiment in two irradiated and control groups, which may be due to a change in the natural electromagnetic background in a semi-anechoic shielded chamber.

Behavioural response to gastrointestinal parasites of yearling dairy calves at pasture

ABSTRACT Aims To investigate the association between gastrointestinal parasites (GIP) and animal behaviour in dairy calves under New Zealand pastoral conditions, using animal-mounted, accelerometer-based sensors. Methods Thirty-six, 5–6-month-old, Friesian-Jersey, heifer calves fitted with animal activity sensors to track behaviour were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups. Half the animals were challenged with an oral dose of 20,000 larvae of Ostertagia ostertagi and Cooperia oncophera once a week for 3 weeks and half were unchallenged. Five weeks after the last dose, seven infected and nine uninfected animals were treated with an oral anthelmintic (AHC) and data collected for a further week. Accelerometer data were classified into minutes per day eating, ruminating, in moderate–high activity or in low activity. Live weight and faecal egg counts (FEC) were recorded weekly over the study period. All animals co-grazed a newly sown pasture not previously grazed by ruminants and were moved every week to fresh grazing. Treatment status was blinded to those managing the animals which were otherwise treated identically. Results Complete behavioural records were available from 30/36 calves, (13 challenged and 17 unchallenged). Before treatment with AHC, FEC increased in infected and un-treated calves over the study, while uninfected animals maintained a near zero FEC. There was no difference in live weight gain between the two groups over the study period. Bayesian, multinomial regression predicted differences in animal behaviour between infected and uninfected animals that were not treated with AHC over the 7 weeks following initial infection. Parasitised calves not treated with AHC were less active and spent up to 6 (95% highest density interval (HDI) = 1–11) minutes/day less in low level activity and up to 15 (95% HDI = 7–20) minutes/day less in moderate to high level activity. They ruminated up to 9 (95% HDI = 2–15) minutes/day more and ate up to 10 (95% HDI = 2–19) minutes/day more than control calves that were not treated with AHC. The effect of AHC on time spent in each behaviour differed between infected and uninfected calves and increased the coefficient of dispersion of the behavioural data. Conclusions and clinical relevance Small differences in animal behaviour can be measured in calves with GIP. However, to use this to target treatment, further validation studies are required to confirm the accuracy of behavioural classification and understand the complex drivers of animal behaviour in a dynamic and variable pasture-parasite–host environment.

Do sexes differ in consistent individual differences and behavioural syndrome in an aposematic poison frog?

AbstractThere is a burgeoning interest in studying consistent individual differences in animal behaviour. Most studies consider mainly males, but sexes are subject to distinct selection pressures that may drive differences in life history and therefore lead to differences in a variety of behaviours. Here, we used Oophaga pumilio, a poison frog with sex differences in life‐history strategies (e.g., sex bias in space use and parental care), to explore whether sexes differ or share personality characteristics like behavioural consistency and behavioural syndromes. Based on the natural history of this species, we predicted sex differences in behavioural consistency in exploration but not in boldness, and a correlation between these behavioural traits. We found no sex differences in behavioural consistency in boldness and exploration, although, we observed a tendency of higher consistency in males than females in boldness. When pooling all individuals, we found a higher consistency in boldness than exploration, suggesting the presence of a bold personality in general. We observed a positive between‐individual correlation of boldness and exploration in both sexes indicating the presence of a behavioural syndrome. Our data suggest that selective mechanisms shaping individual behaviour act equally on both sexes in this poison frog.

Hutchinson’s ecological niche for individuals

We here develop a concept of an individualized niche in analogy to Hutchison’s population-level concept of the ecological niche. We consider the individualized (ecological) niche as the range of environmental conditions under which a particular individual has an expected lifetime reproductive success of ≥ 1. Our concept has primarily an ecological function, as it refers to the match of an individual phenotype to its contemporary environment (niche fit) while we discuss evolutionary fitness as an evaluative parameter of this fit. We address four specific challenges that occur when scaling the niche down from populations to individuals. In particular, we discuss (1) the consequences of uniqueness of individuals in a population and the corresponding lack of statistical replication, (2) the dynamic nature of individualized niches and how they can be studied either as time-slice niches, as prospective niches or as trajectory-based niches, (3) the dimensionality of the individualized niche, that is greater than the population niche due to the additional dimensions of intra-specific niche space, (4) how the boundaries of individualized niche space can be defined by expected lifetime reproductive success and how expected reproductive success can be inferred by marginalizing fitness functions across phenotypes or environments. We frame our discussion in the context of recent interest in the causes and consequences of individual differences in animal behavior.

Reproductive tradeoffs govern sexually dimorphic tubular lysosome induction in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Sex-specific differences in animal behavior commonly reflect unique reproductive interests. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, hermaphrodites can reproduce without a mate and thus prioritize feeding to satisfy the high energetic costs of reproduction. However, males, which must mate to reproduce, sacrifice feeding to prioritize mate-searching behavior. Here, we demonstrate that these behavioral differences influence sexual dimorphism at the organelle level; young males raised on a rich food source show constitutive induction of gut tubular lysosomes, a non-canonical lysosome morphology that forms in the gut of hermaphrodites when food is limited or as animals age. We found that constitutive induction of gut tubular lysosomes in males results from self-imposed dietary restriction through DAF-7/TGFβ, which promotes exploratory behavior. In contrast, age-dependent induction of gut tubular lysosomes in hermaphrodites is stimulated by self-fertilization activity. Thus, separate reproductive tradeoffs influence tubular lysosome induction in each sex, potentially supporting different requirements for reproductive success.

Let's talk about sex roles: what affects perceptions of sex differences in animal behaviour?

In the field of sexual selection, it is common to encounter the idea of ‘sex roles’: choosy and caring females and competitive and promiscuous males. Despite criticism of these stereotypes from some evolutionary biologists, sex roles still appear as a norm in much of the sexual selection-related literature. This may be because scientists anthropomorphize animal behaviours, which raises the question of whether demographic traits and experiences can influence one's perception regarding sex differences in nature. Here we tested whether age, gender, country and experiences are associated with different perceptions of sex differences in nature. We conducted a survey in which we asked participants about their perception of the frequency at which certain behaviours associated with sex roles (promiscuity, mate choice, intrasexual competition and parental care) occur in nonhuman animals for each sex. We found that participants' country, research experience with certain taxonomic groups and research experience with sex-specific topics were associated with different perceptions of sex differences in nonhuman animals; participants from more gender-unequal countries showed greater agreement with the idea of sex roles. In contrast, participants who had experience with mechanisms not predicted by the idea of sex roles such as male mate choice, paternal care and female–female competition showed lower agreement with the idea of sex roles than other participants. We suggest that increasing social diversity in academia and encouraging researchers to diversify the sexes and taxa of animals they use to investigate reproductive behaviours could challenge pre-existing biases in animal sex differences. • The idea of sex roles represents a stereotypical view of females and males. • Researchers' perceptions of sex differences in nature are diverse. • Agreement with the idea of sex roles can depend on research experience. • Drawing broad conclusions based on current data can be misleading.

A Relationship between the Characteristics of the Oval Nucleus of the Mesopallium and Parrot Vocal Response to Playback

Correlations between differences in animal behavior and brain structures have been used to infer function of those structures. Brain region size has especially been suggested to be important for an animal’s behavioral capability, controlled by specific brain regions. The oval nucleus of the mesopallium (MO) is part of the anterior forebrain vocal learning pathway in the parrot brain. Here, we compare brain volume and total number of neurons in MO of three parrot species (the peach-fronted conure, Eupsittula aurea, the peach-faced lovebird, Agapornis roseicollis, and the budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus), relating the total neuron numbers with the vocal response to playbacks of each species. We find that individuals with the highest number of neurons in MO had the shortest vocal latency. The peach-fronted conures showed the shortest vocal latency and largest number of MO neurons, the peach-faced lovebird had intermediary levels of both, and the budgerigar had the longest latency and least number of neurons. These findings indicate the MO nucleus as one candidate region that may be part of what controls the vocal capacity of parrots.

Replications in Comparative Cognition: What Should We Expect and How Can We Improve?

Direct replication studies follow an original experiment’s methods as closely as possible. They provide information about the reliability and validity of an original study’s findings. The present paper asks what comparative cognition should expect if its studies were directly replicated, and how researchers can use this information to improve the reliability of future research. Because published effect sizes are likely overestimated, comparative cognition researchers should not expect findings with p-values just below the significance level to replicate consistently. Nevertheless, there are several statistical and design features that can help researchers identify reliable research. However, researchers should not simply aim for maximum replicability when planning studies; comparative cognition faces strong replicability-validity and replicability-resource trade-offs. Next, the paper argues that it may not even be possible to perform truly direct replication studies in comparative cognition because of: 1) a lack of access to the species of interest; 2) real differences in animal behavior across sites; and 3) sample size constraints producing very uncertain statistical estimates, meaning that it will often not be possible to detect statistical differences between original and replication studies. These three reasons suggest that many claims in the comparative cognition literature are practically unfalsifiable, and this presents a challenge for cumulative science in comparative cognition. To address this challenge, comparative cognition can begin to formally assess the replicability of its findings, improve its statistical thinking and explore new infrastructures that can help to form a field that can create and combine the data necessary to understand how cognition evolves.

Individual differences in the behavioral characteristics of beluga whales (Dephinapterus leucas)

The topic of individual differences in animal behavior has garnered a great deal of recent attention across many species, but questions remain concerning the degree to which behavioral differences vary over time or by age and sex. The present study focused on white whales (Delphinapterus leucas), a species in which a high degree of behavioral variability may be expected due to the fact that belugas are large-brained, long-lived, and highly social in nature. A suite of 23 behavioral measures related to boldness, playfulness, sociability, and other traits were assessed in 41 seaquarium-based belugas that were housed in mixed age/sex grouping. The goals were to assess consistency within individuals over time as well as variations by age and sex. Nineteen of the 23 measures showed significant within-subject consistency over time, suggesting that stable behavioral differences appear to exist in this species. However, very few measures showed significant correlations with each other, indicating that they could not be grouped into identifiable factors that comprised recognizable clusters. It is suggested, therefore, that individual differences are best viewed as a complex array of characteristics that depend on an individual’s age and contextual variables that influence the degree to which specific sets of behaviors are expressed and co-vary.

Physiological differences between winter phenotypes of Siberian hamsters do not correlate with their behaviour

Living in a seasonally changing environment requires periodic, reversible changes in animals' phenotypes to match variations in their abiotic and biotic environments. These changes may relate to temperature regulation, torpor use, basal metabolic rate, body mass or behaviour, all acting in concert to ensure the best adjustment to the environmental challenges. As winter approaches, many small mammals develop a winter phenotype that is qualitatively and quantitatively different from a summer one. However, there is a significant within-population polymorphism in winter phenotype. We hypothesized that winter phenotype is correlated with consistent between-individual differences in animal behaviour, i.e. animal personality, and energy metabolism. We measured basal metabolic rate (BMR) and behavioural traits in three winter phenotypes of Siberian hamsters, Phodopus sungorus, which were acclimated to summer-like and then to winter-like conditions: fully responding, nonresponding and partially responding to a short photoperiod. We found no differences in behavioural traits between hamsters of different winter phenotypes, but the seasonal increase in activity was lowest in full responders indicating their lower behavioural flexibility than partial responders and nonresponders. The same was true for BMR. While nonresponders and partial responders increased their BMR from summer to winter, full responders did not change it. We argue that different winter phenotypes are maintained in the population because they could be beneficial under different environmental conditions. We also suggest that within a population there is a continuum of winter phenotypes, which is not related to differences in animal personalities. This continuum allows for population maintenance despite environmental conditions changing over short and long timescales.

My Reflections on Understanding Animal Emotions for Improving the Life of Animals in Zoos

ABSTRACTScientists are often reluctant to attribute emotions to nonhuman animals that are similar to human emotions. When the author published her early studies, reviewers prohibited the word fear. Fearful behavior had to be described as agitated. The core emotional systems described by Panksepp may provide a useful framework for people who work hands-on with animals. The core systems are fear, rage, panic (separation distress), seek, lust, nurture, and play. Some scientists who deny that animals have real emotions often fail to review important areas of the literature. The areas that are sometimes left out are the effects of psychiatric medications on animals and genetic influences on differences in animal behavior. In both people and animals, genetics has an influence on both fearfulness and novelty seeking. Visualizing the seven core emotional systems as separate volume controls on a music mixing board may help zoo professionals determine the motivation of both normal and abnormal behavior. It may also help them to design more effective environmental enrichments.

What can the quantitative and qualitative behavioural assessment of videos of sheep moving through an autonomous data capture system tell us about welfare?

Sheep can be exposed to a variety of challenges and failure to adapt to these challenges can compromise their health and wellbeing. Regular monitoring of stock on large-scale or extensive systems may not always be possible, although recent technological advancements in automated data capture, such as walk-over-weighing (WoW), can make monitoring easier. The potential benefit of including behavioural assessment in such a system has yet to be tested. We investigated whether quantitative and qualitative behavioural assessment (QBA) methods could be applied to short video footage collected automatically within a WoW setup, to differentiate between sheep that were, presumably, in different (positive and negative) welfare states. Video footage was collected from 36 Merino sheep within the four treatment groups; Control (n = 12), Habituated to the WoW setup and human interaction (n = 8), Lame (n = 8) and Inappetent (n = 8). Habituated sheep were exposed to a low-stress handling regimen for six consecutive days prior to filming. At the same time, feeding behaviour was recorded by means of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to identify sheep suffering inappetence. Lame sheep were identified using a 6-point scoring system, and Control animals were selected ensuring that they were not Lame, Inappetent or Habituated. For QBA, the footage was presented, in a random order, to 18 observers. There was a significant (P < 0.001) consensus among the observers in their assessment of the behavioural expression of the sheep. Observers described the Habituated and Lame sheep as significantly more focused/collected/assured compared to the Control sheep (P < 0.05). There was no difference in observer scores between the Inappetent sheep compared to the Controls. A number of associations were found between the QBA scores and the quantitative behavioural measures recorded. Sheep that baulked more frequently at the entrance to the WoW system (Rs = −0.70; P < 0.001) or had a greater number of circling events (Rs = −0.68; P < 0.001) were described as more reluctant/tense/wary, while those that recorded faster walking speeds (Rs = 0.65; P < 0.001) or spent less time standing stationary (Rs= −0.48; P < 0.01) were described as more focused/collected/assured. We conclude that qualitative and quantitative behavioural measures can be used to identify differences in animal behaviour, presumably related to their welfare state, when applied to short video clips automatically collected in a WoW setup. These findings suggest that behavioural measures could be collected, practically, within automated biometric data capture systems to provide additional information to aid in the assessment of sheep welfare in extensive systems.

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior.

The causes and consequences of individual differences in animal behavior and stress physiology are increasingly studied in wild animals, yet the possibility that stress physiology underlies individual variation in social behavior has received less attention. In this review, we bring together these study areas and focus on understanding how the activity of the vertebrate neuroendocrine stress axis (HPA‐axis) may underlie individual differences in social behavior in wild animals. We first describe a continuum of vertebrate social behaviors spanning from initial social tendencies (proactive behavior) to social behavior occurring in reproductive contexts (parental care, sexual pair‐bonding) and lastly to social behavior occurring in nonreproductive contexts (nonsexual bonding, group‐level cooperation). We then perform a qualitative review of existing literature to address the correlative and causal association between measures of HPA‐axis activity (glucocorticoid levels or GCs) and each of these types of social behavior. As expected, elevated HPA‐axis activity can inhibit social behavior associated with initial social tendencies (approaching conspecifics) and reproduction. However, elevated HPA‐axis activity may also enhance more elaborate social behavior outside of reproductive contexts, such as alloparental care behavior. In addition, the effect of GCs on social behavior can depend upon the sociality of the stressor (cause of increase in GCs) and the severity of stress (extent of increase in GCs). Our review shows that the while the associations between stress responses and sociality are diverse, the role of HPA‐axis activity behind social behavior may shift toward more facilitating and less inhibiting in more social species, providing insight into how stress physiology and social systems may co‐evolve.

Movement Patterns Differ between Sexes and Depend on Weather Conditions in the Butterfly Lycaena tityrus

Habitat loss and anthropogenic climate change are important threats to biodiversity conservation. Owing to the concomitantly deteriorating habitat quality, individuals are often forced to disperse to new habitats, rendering dispersal an ecologically important process. However, dispersal ability may differ within and among populations, and is further dependent on environmental conditions. We therefore studied sexual differences in and environmental effects on movement patterns in the sooty copper butterfly Lycaena tityrus. As predicted, males were more active and covered longer distances than females, presumably owing to mate location and territorial disputes. Males alighted more often on flowers than females, probably to fuel their high flight activity, while females showed a high affinity to host-plants for egg-laying. Our findings provide a striking example of sex-related differences in animal behavior, as revealed by the use of customary smartphones, which apparently can comprise suitable means to reveal biologically significant behavioural patterns. More problematic than the technical device used seems to be the challenge of following individual butterflies for long enough in the field, such that any extrapolations to dispersal seem difficult.

Does similarity in call structure or foraging ecology explain interspecific information transfer in wild Myotis bats?

Animals can gain important information by attending to the signals and cues of other animals in their environment, with acoustic information playing a major role in many taxa. Echolocation call sequences of bats contain information about the identity and behaviour of the sender which is perceptible to close-by receivers. Increasing evidence supports the communicative function of echolocation within species, yet data about its role for interspecific information transfer is scarce. Here, we asked which information bats extract from heterospecific echolocation calls during foraging. In three linked playback experiments, we tested in the flight room and field if foraging Myotis bats approached the foraging call sequences of conspecifics and four heterospecifics that were similar in acoustic call structure only (acoustic similarity hypothesis), in foraging ecology only (foraging similarity hypothesis), both, or none. Compared to the natural prey capture rate of 1.3 buzzes per minute of bat activity, our playbacks of foraging sequences with 23–40 buzzes/min simulated foraging patches with significantly higher profitability. In the flight room, M. capaccinii only approached call sequences of conspecifics and of the heterospecific M. daubentonii with similar acoustics and foraging ecology. In the field, M. capaccinii and M. daubentonii only showed a weak positive response to those two species. Our results confirm information transfer across species boundaries and highlight the importance of context on the studied behaviour, but cannot resolve whether information transfer in trawling Myotis is based on acoustic similarity only or on a combination of similarity in acoustics and foraging ecology.Significance statementAnimals transfer information, both voluntarily and inadvertently, and within and across species boundaries. In echolocating bats, acoustic call structure and foraging ecology are linked, making echolocation calls a rich source of information about species identity, ecology and activity of the sender, which receivers might exploit to find profitable foraging grounds. We tested in three lab and field experiments if information transfer occurs between bat species and if bats obtain information about ecology from echolocation calls. Myotis capaccinii/daubentonii bats approached call playbacks, but only those from con- and heterospecifics with similar call structure and foraging ecology, confirming interspecific information transfer. Reactions differed between lab and field, emphasising situation-dependent differences in animal behaviour, the importance of field research, and the need for further studies on the underlying mechanism of information transfer and the relative contributions of acoustic and ecological similarity.

Levels of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites do not reflect environmental contrasts across islands in black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) populations

Animals face stressful situations to which they can respond by mounting a physiological response. Few studies have compared the relative effects of two or more stressors on this response. We compared how low food abundance and hunting affected levels of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM), an indicator of stress, in Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) on the Haida Gwaii archipelago (Canada). We monitored monthly FGM levels over a year on three islands: on two, there was no hunting but deer were exposed to increased risk of severe food depletion; and on one, deer had access to abundant food but were exposed to a few days of hunting each year. Based on the context of the study, we tentatively predicted that FGM levels would be higher in low food abundance/safe islands. We also predicted that FGM levels would be higher in winter when food is rarer, particularly in low food abundance/safe islands. The three deer populations presented similar average FGM levels and seasonal variations. Our predictions were therefore not supported. Our results rather suggested that environmental contrasts, perceived by us as large (increased risk of starvation on ELI and Kunga islands) or associated with differences in animal behavior (human avoidance on Reef island), did not lead to increased stress responses. We discuss plausible explanations, including the down-regulation of the stress response in depleted environments and the lack of stress response to low hunting pressure when behavioral responses to risk are unlikely to be costly.

Individual differences in aggressive and peaceful behavior: new insights and future directions

Consistent individual differences in animal behaviour are an increasingly common focus of research across various behavioural and biological sciences. Such ‘animal personalities’ comprise a diverse repertoire of behavioural tendencies, recently expanding to incorporate the social domain. Aggression and peace, hallmarks of many social systems including that of humans, warrant integration with this literature. Specifically, animal personality research should consider the potential role of stable conflict and post-conflict behavioural tendencies. We focus our discussion primarily on examples in nonhuman primates and humans, but suggest that individual variation patterns are relevant for any social species in which these phenomena exist. In highly gregarious species, an individual’s conflict and post-conflict tendencies can affect the strength and stability of its social bonds. Because social relationships in turn impact survival and reproductive success, we also encourage future work to investigate the ultimate (i.e., fitness-relevant) consequences of individual variation in aggressive and peaceful behaviour.

Sex-specific association between sleep and basal metabolic rate in great tits

Differences in animal behaviour can arise from individual variation in energy resource allocation decisions. Because energy is essential to fuel all processes that permit behaviour, it is necessary to consider metabolism for a more complete understanding of behavioural ecology. Although many studies have explored interspecific relationships between metabolic rate and behaviour, few studies have evaluated within-species relationships between metabolism and sleep. We investigated the relationship between basal metabolic rate (BMR) and components of sleep behaviour measured in wild great tits, Parus major, during winter and the prebreeding period. Individuals with higher metabolic rates may partially offset their costs by using sleep as an energy conservation strategy, where individuals with higher BMR may sleep more. On the other hand, the energetic savings of longer sleep may not be worth the lost foraging opportunities and therefore higher BMR individuals may sleep less. Our results suggest that the relationship between BMR and sleep behaviours may depend on sex. Female great tits displayed a positive relationship between metabolic rate and sleep duration consistent with energy conservation, or protection, while male great tits displayed a negative relationship. Differences in sleep duration came about largely due to a sex-specific interaction between BMR and sleep onset time; we found no relationship between BMR and time of awakening in either sex. Nor did it appear that individuals compensated for changes in duration of sleep with changes to quality of sleep, measured as frequency of night-time awakenings. This suggests that male and female great tits use different sleep strategies based on their metabolic requirements which may contribute to variation in sleep behaviour within a species. Sex-specific differences in metabolic physiology, or fitness-enhancing behaviours throughout the circannual cycle may contribute to variation in energy-balancing strategies within and between the sexes.

Individual differences in behavior and mechanisms of ecological differentiation on the example of fish

In this paper we present a review of the individual differences in animal behavior as exemplified by fish. A review of the basic ethological approach to their study is given. Terms such as “temperament” are shown to be applicable to the description of stable characteristics of individuality in animals. It should be emphasized that consistency over time and across situations is the main classification characteristic of the temperament trait. We also briefly review genetic and physiological mechanisms of individuality in fish, factors affecting their development in the ontogeny, and the effects of individual experience. Temperament is shown to have significant adaptive value: in many cases natural selection maintains alternative behavioral tactics. We also consider the main quantitative models that account for the coexistence of individuals with different behavioral patterns. Finally, it is demonstrated that patterns of behavioral individuality may significantly affect population dynamics.

Behavioural Flexibility and Personality in Zebra Finches

AbstractConsistent individual differences in behaviour of animals, that is, personalities, are both widespread and widely studied, but very few studies also include cognitive traits in this context. Animal personality has recently been integrated into the pace‐of‐life‐syndrome hypothesis, relating individual behavioural traits to life history. Variation in cognitive traits could be explained well by this theoretical framework. A risk‐reward trade‐off might lead to different cognitive types: Active birds that learn fast, take risks and probably have a fast lifestyle and less active, slow learning birds that are risk averse but thereby perform better in reversal learning as they probably pay more attention to external cues. We investigated the performance of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) in a cognitively challenging reversal learning task and linked this to two personality traits: activity and fearfulness. Male birds were better in reversal learning than females. While no personality‐related differences occurred in the initial learning of our task, more active and fearful birds relearned the cue–reward association faster. While birds of different sex might have revealed different risk‐taking strategies in the training, our findings do not reveal the expected direction of a risk‐reward trade‐off in the reversal learning. It seems likely that a more general and personality‐related cognitive ability might improve performance across different tasks. The linkage between personality and cognition documented here could hence suggest that cognitive traits are indeed part of an overall pace‐of‐life syndrome.