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 in captive settings. 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. Our research shows how integrating an improved understanding of the personality of big cats with stress physiology may enhance welfare, especially for endangered species like African lions. By using a wild cat personality checklist, this study compared the key personality dimensions of 22 African lions with its faecal glucocorticoids and assessed factors influencing their personality and stress physiology. Results We found two reliable personality dimensions for African lions (dominance and agreeableness) and identified key factors (sex, age and location) that may influence their personality. Further, on testing if these factors influenced the stress physiology through variations in glucocorticoid levels, there was no significant difference. However, there was a strong negative association between agreeableness and glucocorticoid levels. These results suggest that the behavioural traits loading positively and higher for agreeableness are associated with lower glucocorticoid stress levels, which may assist a lion to cope with stressors in its surroundings. Conclusions Our findings highlight this integrated approach of linking personality and stress physiology of big cats can be beneficial for caretakers. For example, during stressful veterinary procedures or in reintroduction programs, recognizing the personality of lions can help in designing or providing them with resources that will alleviate stress. Thus, there is a need for more interdisciplinary approaches that will contribute towards enhancing the individual and overall welfare of big cats.

Use of infrared thermography to detect reactions to stressful events: does animal personality matter?

“…Age was not considered (e.g. Bartolomé et al 2013;Vaz et al 2022), since in the field squirrels can be classified just as young, subadult, or adult; only adults were part of the study. Ambient temperature and humidity were provided by the weather station located in Greer (AZ, USA; 2622 m a.s.l., 11 km from the study area; https://www.wunderground.com/) that records data every 4 min.…”

“…Several studies investigating stress response in domestic or laboratory animals recorded the basal temperature of each individual and successfully studied the changes in body temperature from a neutral to a stressed state (Cabanac & Briese 1992;Lee et al 2000;Kramer et al 2004;Lowe et al 2005). Eye temperature of African lions (Panthera leo) in a neutral state, that is, basal core temperature, measured by IRT did not vary with personality (Vaz et al 2022). A major challenge in studies investigating basal core temperature in wild animals is that trapping and handling the animal are stressful events in their own right, and the body temperature measured (either with IRT or thermometers) is already affected by the physiological stress reaction of the animal mediated by its personality.…”

“…Edgar et al (2011) assessed the reaction of hens while witnessing their chicks being exposed to an aversive stimulus and confirmed the physiological response of hens via change of surface temperatures of the eye and comb as an indicator of SIH. Research has been conducted on several laboratory and domestic animals (Travain & Valsecchi 2021); however, few studies have involved wildlife, especially within natural habitats (Schraft & Clark 2017;Duparcq et al 2019;Vaz et al 2022). Since negative emotions induce actions to cope with stressors through activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the link between how free-living individuals perceive these emotions, their intensity, and the animal's personality can affect their fitness (Wolf & Weissing 2012;Le Coeur et al 2015;Santicchia et al 2018;Travain & Valsecchi 2021).…”

Effects of Fresh Chicken Meat and Wood Enrichments on Behavior of Sumatran Tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae, Pocock, 1929) at Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation Rescue Centre

“…[49] concluded some individual may approach or respond more to novel objects that other individual. Individual personality matters already published on lion [50].…”

Thermal Imaging to Assess the Health Status in Wildlife Animals under Human Care: Limitations and Perspectives

“…The authors attributed the absence of any ocular thermal response to a potentially enjoyable emotional state, suggesting that IRT could be useful for identifying emotional states in animals [44]. Vaz et al [45] found a similar response in African lions (P. leo), where the IRT response at the ocular level was used to understand large felines' personality and stress physiology, when coordinated with ethological studies and fecal glucocorticoid levels. The authors identified three personality types by studying 22 African lions in two locations, (dominant, gentle, and neurotic).…”