Watching coworkers in papermasksswimamong the office cubicles act- ing out fish personalities
turns out to be pretty informative.
Admittedly, “informative” didn’t seem
to be the word on the tip of the tongue
of Science News’ editor in chief when,
in the grip of urgent editorial business,
he charged up the stairs and happened
upon writers neglecting their keyboards
for make-believe group swims. After
some hasty smoothing over, though, he
joined in as a virtual predator, sending
fish of all personality types scattering
for shelter.
Predators, information, group-ups and
even games all have their place in studies of animal personality, including the
mosquito fish research that inspired the
office fish simulation. Even though fish
dynamics over generations were mimicked by just a few terrestrial mammals
between deadlines, the mix of personalities proved as important for animal
welfare in cubicles as in real waterways.
Differences in the ways individual fish
act, once groaned about as the inevitable
messiness of gathering data on real ani-
mals, have in recent years become their
own topic of research. Geese, hissing
cockroaches, cichlids, great tits, mal-
lards, sparrows and European rabbits
have all starred in such studies.
Clever and cagey pets
Before getting into what personality
might mean for animals in general, it’s
worth dealing with pets. Just about every
magazine article on nonhuman behavioral types inspires at least one reader
to write a letter to the editor fulminating about how scientists are such idiots.
Anybody who has ever had dogs, cats,
horses, parrots, etc., knows that they
have personality.
Science, however, requires rigorous
definitions and proofs, says behavioral
biologist Margaret Wray. Now based
in Atlanta, Wray studies personality in
honeybees, but she often hears about
clever cats and so on from pet lovers she
knows. Finding a way to define an animal companion’s lovable idiosyncrasies
A sociable mosquito fish that tries to
hang out with loners may have better
access to food than a social fish that
travels with other fish of its type.
Having the right blend of
animal personalities can
make or break a group
mixedresults
By Susan Milius
