| Animal personality is defined as the consistent behavioral differences in individuals. It has been shown that personality can affect animal’s survival,reproduction and longevity by their behavior. Personality has been identified in many kinds of organisms, which is closely connected with ecology, evolution and natural selection. But the mechanism in maintaining the different personality type is still in a debate, and the Mandarin voles(Lasiopodomys mandarinus) were chosen as the experiment object to explore it in this study. Two methods were used to evaluate the personality of each object. We want to know the role of personality played on the mate selection in female individuals, and if parents’ personality type can affect the offsprings’ development and behavior. The results of the experiments are as fellows:1 The personalized evaluation on Mandarin volesFrom Jul. 2014 to Dec.2014, 60 adult virgin individuals(30 male and 30 female)were used to evaluate the personality in the open-field and mirror-stimulation device by two method: 1) watched the video by 1-0 method artificially and analyzed the data with principal compoment analysis(PCA)(20 individuals:10 male and 10 female); 2)SMART 3.0 software was used to automaticly analyze the video and evaluated the personality of the objects. And the animals were defined as boldness and shyness.The results shows that there are two type as boldness and shyness. And 11 bold and 9 shy objects by 1-0 method in 20 individuals; and there are 31 bold and 29 shy objects by SMART 3.0 software in all 60 objects. And the correlation coefficient between the results of 1-0 and the software is 0.900, which is correlated significantly.The data from the two methods were compared the feasibility and tested the normality.Two methods were evaluated by the normal P-P diagram and P value. The results showed that both of the two method are scientific and reliable, especially, SMART3.0 software can not only get the data but also paint the motion curve at the same time,which it can automaticly evaluate the personality of the objects. Relevant study could use this software.2 The effect of personality on female mating selectionFrom Feb. 2015 to Apr 2015, 52 known-personality objects(26 male and 26female) were used in mate selection test in the standard experiment device(50 cm×0cmus20 cm). There are 26 couples mated by testing their behavior and the time and frequency of visit. Detailed results are as following: 4 couples of both bold type, 9couples of bold females and shy males, 6 couples of both shy type, and 7 couples of shy females and bold males. Mean visiting time from bold females is 12.54 minutes to shy males and 4.54 minutes to bold males, which has a significant difference(P=0.01). And the mean visiting frequency from bold females is 11.62 times to shy males and 3.62 times to bold males, which is a significant difference(P=0.02). But there is no significant difference between shy females and males of two types on visiting time and frequency. The results means that bold females show a preference for shy males, but shy females select their mate in a random model.3 The effect of parents’ personality on development and personality of offspringFrom Apr. 2015 to Jun. 2015, on the basis of mate selection, there were 4 kinds couples for shy female and shy male(SF-SM), shy female and bold male(SF-BM),bold female and shy male(BF-SM), bold female and bold male(BF-BM). The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of parental personality on offspring development and personlity. The growth indexes of 38 offspring were tested. The growth indexes include litter size, weight gain, the intimacy between mother and offspring, fist time of eye opening, survival rate and sex ratio. Repeated measurement in generalized linear models were used to compare the mass gain of the offspring among different parents.The results showed that the offspring from bold mothers and shy fathers are faster on weight gain than the other groups, which there are extremely significant difference among them(P<0.01). Furthermore, logistic equation of growth curves was fitted, which the equation parameters of four groups are different, and the parameters in group of bold mothers and shy fathers are higher than others. The offspring survival rate in group of bold mothers and shy fathers’ is significantly higher than the group of both shy parents(P=0.048) or both bold parents(P=0.019).The offspring survival rate in group of bold mother and shy father is higher than the group of shy mother and bold father, but the difference is not significant(P=0.657).In addition, there is no significant difference on litter size, the intimacy between :mother and offspring, eye-opening first time, sex ratio among the offspring from four groups of personalized parents(P>0.05).The personality of 32 offspring were evaluated by SMART 3.0 software, and the results showed that 18 of individuals is bold and the other 14 is shy. The personalized scores of mature offspring were analyzed comprehensively with multiple linear regression model, and the results showed that the parents possessed a significant linear effect on offspring’s personality(Y=3.315+ 0.5X1+0.4X2, P<0.01). Therefore,personality of offspring were affected by their parents, the offspring most are shy(bold) when their parents are shy(bold), and father shows more effect on them.In conclusion, firstly, it is a true existence of personality in Mandarin voles, and personality can be evaluated by SMART 3.0 software. Secondly, mate selection can be influenced by animal’s personality, and bold females have a preference on shy male in Mandarin voles, but shy female select their mate in a random model. Parental personality can affect offspring development, and the offspring from bold mother and shy father have heavier body mass and higher survival rate. Finally, the personality is heritable and father shows more effect on Mandarin voles. |
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