Personality traits are consistent when measured in the field and in the laboratory in African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio)

Personality in free-living individuals has predominantly been measured under standardized laboratory conditions. Such measurements have been then linked to life-history traits, fitness and survival. Yet, it remains unclear how such personality measurements reflect the variation shown by free-living individuals, if the same measurements were taken directly in their natural environment. Here, we used free-living African striped mice to test whether the personality traits of activity, boldness, exploration and aggression are consistent when measured in the laboratory and in the field contexts. First, we established whether personality traits were repeatable and consistent within one context. Next, we compared measurements across the two different contexts. Additionally, we established whether personality traits were correlated with one another in behavioural syndromes and assessed whether the resulting syndromes were consistent across the two contexts. All personality traits in the laboratory were measured using classical personality tests. The same tests were then modified and used to measure personality of the same individuals in the field. All personality traits were highly repeatable and consistent within the same context. In addition, individuals behaved consistently for all the behaviours measured both in the laboratory and in the field. Further, we found that the presence of two correlated context-specific separate latent variables (one for the field and one for the laboratory) underpinned all the behaviours measured, indicating that there is a context-specific syndrome in this species. Overall, our results confirm that measurements of personality traits of wild striped mouse individuals recorded in the laboratory environment are consistent with the traits that the same individuals show under natural conditions.