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Personality and metabolic scope in wild mice.

Wyeth Blumberg¹, Alyssa Fiedler¹, Vincent Careau¹

¹Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N 9A4.

The Journal of Experimental Biology

|July 22, 2025

Summary

Animal personality traits, like docility, correlate with metabolic scope and resting metabolic rate in wild mice. This study reveals new insights into the link between behavior and energy expenditure in Peromyscus leucopus.

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Area of Science:

Zoology
Animal Behavior
Physiology

Background:

A consistent relationship between animal personality and metabolic rate is expected but lacks conclusive evidence.
Previous research primarily focused on resting metabolic rate (RMR), overlooking other metabolic metrics like V̇O2,max and metabolic scope.
Individual behavioral differences, termed animal personality, may influence physiological processes such as energy metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the correlations between personality traits (docility and exploration) and metabolic characteristics (RMR, V̇O2,max, and metabolic scope) in wild mice (Peromyscus leucopus).
To determine if personality influences sampling bias in metabolic rate measurements.
To explore within-individual relationships between personality and metabolic traits.

Main Methods:

Keywords:

Aerobic capacity Basal metabolic rate Energetics Forced exercise Novel environment Sampling bias

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Assessed personality traits including docility and exploration in wild mice.
Measured resting metabolic rate (RMR) and maximal oxygen consumption (V̇O2,max).
Calculated metabolic scope and analyzed correlations between personality metrics and metabolic traits.

Main Results:

No significant correlation was found between personality and the motivation to run during V̇O2,max trials, indicating no personality-related sampling bias in the exercise test.
A significant positive within-individual relationship was observed between docility and metabolic scope, primarily driven by V̇O2,max.
A significant positive correlation was found between RMR and grooming behavior, potentially linked to the stress response.

Conclusions:

Metabolic scope, particularly V̇O2,max, is positively associated with docility in wild mice.
Resting metabolic rate may be influenced by stress-induced behaviors like grooming.
These findings highlight the complex interplay between animal personality and metabolic physiology, suggesting that different metabolic metrics can relate to behavior in distinct ways.