Check out our recent ProcB paper on the effects of sex and personality traits on spatial learning in Eulamprus quoyii, an Australian skink.
Understanding individual differences in learning is a major challenge. We addressed the possibility that spatial learning ability is associated with personality traits, such as boldness, in males/females of the Easter Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii). We show, for the first time in reptiles, that males are better spatial learners than females, which we suggest reflects their different social roles. Furthermore we show that, across the sexes, the boldest and shyest individuals were overall better learners than intermediate individuals. We argue this may reflect the importance of spatial learning in individuals adopting extreme alternative territorial (bold individuals) or sneaker (shy individuals) tactics.
For a more detailed account of this, visit Martin Whiting’s The Lizard Lab post here.