Personality Traits in the Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus

Abstract

This study investigated bold-shy personality in the budgerigar, <italic> Melopsittacus undulatus </italic>. Adult budgerigars (14 females, 9 males) fed either a control diet, or one supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), were subjected to seven behavioral tests and two immunocompetence assays. Behavioral responses were categorized by context: fear, feeding, or activity. Correlations were obtained within contexts and among immunocompetence variables and all behavioral variables. Kruskal-Wallis analysis was used to investigate effects of gender and DHA on all variables. Budgerigars behaved consistently within activity and feeding contexts. Males had higher feeding rates, and their feeding responses were negatively correlated with a measure of innate immunity. Cluster analysis characterized birds by activity levels; bold birds were highly active and shy birds were less active. The results of this study suggest that budgerigars exhibit consistent behaviors in two contexts, feeding and activity, which are unrelated to each other, and that activity is the predominant personality trait.