Variation Despite Standardization Evidence For Animal Personality In Laboratory Mice

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Biology - Behaviour, grade: 1,7, University of Münster (Department of Behavioural Biology), language: English, abstract: It is generally assumed that human beings have personalities, while animals do not. This assumption is not only derived from common sense, but also a basic principle of western philosophy and social theory (Mead, 1934). Still, dog owners will not stop mumbling about their cute puppy's unique personality. And they find support from unexpected source: Biologists argue that humans are nothing more, nothing less than animals. So they, too, begin to take into consideration that animals – including humans – might have a personality. What seems like a solely philosophical question at first glance, has important practical impacts, because the existence of animal personality contradicts the assumption that animals used in biological experiments can be standardized, and have uniform properties. If despite all efforts of standardization a residual variation cannot be eliminated, pharmaceutical and medical experiments might lose part of their validity. Therefore the hypothesis that laboratory mice possess a personality was tested in an empirical study. In this study a set of standard behavior tests was performed with 40 female mice of the strain C57BL/6N. The data was then analyzed for correlations over time and across contexts, since this is a requirement for animal personality.

Preceded by Neurobiology of mental illness / edited by Dennis S. Charney ... [et al.]. 4th ed. 2013.

Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change critically appraises current animal use in science and discusses ways in which we can contribute to a paradigm change towards human-biology based approaches.

The biological and genetic bases of behavioral diversity have long been topics of study within many disciplines, including evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, sociobiology, and comparative psychology, but only relatively recently have attempts been made to bring these different approaches together. This volume covers a wide range of interdisciplinary research which uses some of the newest and most promising methods and technologies. Presented here is an overview of findings in the ongoing search for the ultimate causes of behavior in several different species, including primates, dogs, rodents, birds, and fish. Divided into five parts, the work describes research on sexual and kin selection, personality and temperament, molecular genetics of personality, color vision and body coloration, and the neurological underpinnings of complex behaviors. Valuable for researchers as well as graduate students in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to ecology, the book is also useful to those seeking to move beyond the boundaries of their own discipline and to expand their knowledge.

Ask anyone who has owned a pet and they’ll assure you that, yes, animals have personalities. And science is beginning to agree. Researchers have demonstrated that both domesticated and nondomesticated animals—from invertebrates to monkeys and apes—behave in consistently different ways, meeting the criteria for what many define as personality. But why the differences, and how are personalities shaped by genes and environment? How did they evolve? The essays in Animal Personalities reveal that there is much to learn from our furred and feathered friends. The study of animal personality is one of the fastest-growing areas of research in behavioral and evolutionary biology. Here Claudio Carere and Dario Maestripieri, along with a host of scholars from fields as diverse as ecology, genetics, endocrinology, neuroscience, and psychology, provide a comprehensive overview of the current research on animal personality. Grouped into thematic sections, chapters approach the topic with empirical and theoretical material and show that to fully understand why personality exists, we must consider the evolutionary processes that give rise to personality, the ecological correlates of personality differences, and the physiological mechanisms underlying personality variation.

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, , language: English, abstract: Animals are suffering the consequences of scientific experiments, and every second is precious for us to save animals from being harmed. Because animals can’t talk in our languages does not mean they do not feel pain. Someone must be a voice to the voiceless. It is time to act, time to raise awareness and stop cruelty. It is everyone’s responsibility to act against cruelty and inhumanity. Stop cruelty and save animals.