Development of “personality” in the domestic cat: A longitudinal study

We conducted a study to investigate the development of individual differences in animal behavior, often referred to as personality. This dataset contains the results of behavioral tests conducted on 74 mixed-breed cats. We conducted four different behavioral tests, described as follows: 1) Struggle/handling test: The experimenter picked up the cat and held it securely at shoulder height. The time it took for the cat to place a hind paw on the experimenter's arm was recorded. 2) Meat test: The cat was given a piece of raw beef, and the experimenter slowly moved wooden tongs towards the cat's face to take the meat away. The cat's reaction to the removal or attempted removal of the meat was recorded. 3) Mouse test: The cat was presented with a live mouse in a jar with a perforated lid. The cat's reaction to the mouse was analyzed. 4) Separation/confinement test: The cat was placed alone in a room, inside a pet carrier, for two minutes. The cat's vocal and motor activity were analyzed. The 74 cats were born to six mothers and maintained as part of a free-ranging breeding colony at a private house in Mexico City. Each kitten was tested three times in the four behavioral tests during the preweaning period (<2 months of age). At eight weeks of age, the kittens were given away as pets to people living in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. A subset of these individuals was later visited in their new homes at the ages of 6, 12, and 18 months, and the four tests were repeated three times during three visits at each age. Due to technical problems, some data from some trials were lost, and not all cats in the older age groups were available for all trials. Individual differences in behavior became increasingly repeatable with age due to a combination of decreased individual-level variance and increased among-individual variance. These changes in variance and repeatability continued into adulthood (12–18 months), but we did not observe any behavioral syndromes (associations between behaviors) at any age. The dataset also includes a table with individual characteristics of the cats, such as sex, birthdate, and composition of the adoptive household.本研究旨在探究动物行为个体差异（即常被称为动物性格）的发展规律。本数据集涵盖了针对74只混血家猫开展的行为学测试结果。研究共设置四项行为学测试，具体说明如下： 1. 挣脱/握持测试：实验人员将受试猫抱起并牢固固定于肩高位置，记录其将后爪搭在实验人员手臂上所需的时长。 2. 肉块测试：向受试猫提供一块生牛肉，随后实验人员使用木质镊子缓慢移向猫的面部以取走肉块，记录受试猫对肉块被取走或尝试取走肉块的行为反应。 3. 活鼠测试：将装在带孔密封罐内的活鼠呈现给受试猫，分析其对活鼠的行为反应。 4. 隔离/禁闭测试：将受试猫单独置于宠物航空箱内并放置于房间中，持续时长为两分钟，分析其发声与运动行为。 该74只家猫均由6只母猫所生，作为自由散养繁殖种群的一部分，在墨西哥城一处私人住宅内饲养。每只幼猫在断奶前（年龄小于2月龄）期间，接受四轮行为学测试各三次。当幼猫长至8周龄时，它们作为宠物被领养至墨西哥城都会区的居民家中。后续研究人员对其中部分个体的新家进行了回访，回访时点分别为其6月龄、12月龄及18月龄；在每个年龄阶段的三次回访中，均重复开展四轮行为学测试，即每个年龄阶段共完成三轮完整测试。 受技术问题影响，部分测试环节的数据出现丢失，且年长月龄组的受试猫并非都能完成全部测试环节。随着年龄增长，由于个体内行为变异程度降低与个体间行为变异程度升高的共同作用，行为的个体差异愈发具有可重复性。上述变异程度与可重复性的变化持续至成年阶段（12~18月龄），但研究人员在任何年龄阶段均未观测到任何行为综合征（即不同行为间的关联模式）。本数据集还包含一张记录受试猫个体特征的表格，涵盖其性别、出生日期以及领养家庭的构成信息。