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Personality shapes pair bonding in a wild bird social system
Josh A Firth1,2, Ella F Cole3, Christos C Ioannou4
1Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. joshua.firth@zoo.ox.ac.uk.
None:
Mated pair bonds are integral to many animal societies, yet how individual variation in behaviour influences their formation remains largely unknown. In a population of wild great tits (Parus major), we show that personality shapes pair bonding: proactive males formed stronger pre-breeding pair bonds by meeting their future partners sooner and increasing their relationship strength at a faster rate. As a result, proactive males sampled fewer potential mates. Thus, personality may have important implications for social relationship dynamics and emergent social structure.
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