Personality Matters: Exploring the Relationship between Personality and Stress Physiology in Captive African Lions

Abstract

Background: Considering animals as individuals and not as species is becoming increasingly essential to animal welfare management. Recent studies on big cat personalities and coping strategies suggest personality can help big cats cope in their surroundings. Yet, a large portion of the published literature focuses on understanding either the personality or stress physiology of big cats in isolation. Our research shows how integrating an improved understanding of the personality of big cats with stress physiology may enhance welfare, especially endangered species like African lions. By using a wild cat personality checklist, this study compared African lion personality with its faecal stress glucocorticoids non-invasively. Results: We identified three personality types for individual African lions (Dominance, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) and examined whether these dimensions varied with stress cortisol levels. When controlling for differences in age across lions, we found a strong negative correlation between Agreeableness in lions and their glucocorticoid levels. This suggests that the personality of a lion may help it cope with its surroundings. Conclusions: Our findings can assist with the better management of big cats and it is proposed that ex-situ managers of zoos and rescue centres incorporate the personality data of their animals into the Zoological Information Management Software (ZIMS). This data can be accessed globally and can be useful for caretakers managing their animals according to their needs while undergoing veterinary procedures or in reintroduction programs. Thus, by improving individual welfare, we can improve overall welfare of big cats.