Personality, sociality and foraging in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Thesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter One. General introduction -- Chapter Two. The social life of the zebra finch in the wild -- Chapter Three. Active but antisocial : exploration and activity is linked to social behaviour in a colonially breeding finch -- Chapter Four. Nestling activity levels during begging behaviour predict activity levels in adulthood -- Chapter Five. Personality in captivity : more exploratory males reproduce better -- Chapter Six. Personality in the wild zebra finch : exploration, sociality and reproduction -- Chapter Seven. General discussion.Few personality studies of zebra finches have taken into account the importance of the social environment of this highly social species, which is important as it may influence how personality is formed and maintained. Moreover, no work has yet studied zebra finch personality in the wild, to examine the role of fitness. I addressed these questions by first examining the relationship between sociality and well-established personality traits in captivity, such as exploratory behaviour and activity, along with examining the effects of personality on fitness in a captive aviary population. Secondly, I studies personality in the wild zebra finch for the first time.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (x, 213 pages colour illustration