Personality is not a trait specific to humans and some mammals. Scientists in Europe have shown that bugs have individual personalities and different behavioral traits.
In this experiment, scientists took firebugs, some with long wings and some with short wings, from wild populations and placed them in different situations. They wanted to test the fear response and response to a stimulus of different bugs. They set up an arena with four colored objects scattered around. In the first test, a firebug was placed in a vial, which was then put into the arena and flicked. The scientists then measured the time it took for the bug to leave the vial. In the second test, the bugs were put in a vial, and then shaken out into the center of the arena. The scientists measured how long it took for the bugs to move after being placed in the arena, the time it took for the bug to reach a wall, and also how many objects the bug explored.
The first test, with the vial as a refuge, was a way to quantify the boldness of the bug. The bolder the bug, the quicker it left the vial after being placed in the arena.
The second test, being shaken into the arena, was seen as a measure of how explorative the bug is. The less time it took for the bug to move to the wall of the arena and the higher the number of objects it investigated indicate a more explorative bug.
After collecting data on each bug four times, the scientists then compared both between sexes and between wing size, as well as between trials and contexts. They found that each bug behaved consistently over time, between trials and contexts, showing that there is a range of personality that is specific to each bug, not dependent on the circumstances. When comparing wing size to personality, they found that in females, long-winged bugs are both bolder and more explorative than short winged bugs. In males, both types of bugs had similar measurements for boldness and exploratativeness.
These results, from wild firebugs, paralleled those of another group who tested similar variables in bugs raised in the lab.
These results are interesting because they open our eyes to the idea of animals having personalities. We may have observed this phenomenon in domesticated animals such as dogs, cats or horses, but it is kind of cool to think about it in bugs.
Posted By Muriel Herd
I definitely agree...it’s interesting to see how personalities exist in a variety of animals. If the behavior of each bug is consistent and seems to be conserved, it would be interesting to see the extent to which it’s inherited. Do you think that if they breed bugs with certain traits, then their offspring will behave similarly?
ReplyDeletePosted by Katie Kalutkiewicz
You're right, it is strange to think about bugs having a personality. I think we think that only animals that interact with humans have personalities. Why do you think that there was no difference in the measurements for the males?
ReplyDelete- Amanda Grafstein
Katie-I think that since there is a difference in boldness and degree of explorativeness between the two types of bugs and between males and females, I think that there must be some driving force of selection on these behaviors. Therefore, yes I would expect these traits to be hereditary. If a bug was TOO bold, then maybe it would put itself in risky situations more often and get killed, and therefore not pass on the boldness genes. On the other hand, maybe if a bug isn't as bold it might not get a mate and therefore also wouldn't pass on its traits.
ReplyDeleteAmanda-That is a very interesting question. I think that it has something to do with sexual or natural selection. Maybe the females need the variety in personalities depending on their wing size while for males, the wing size doesn't matter.
-Muriel