The triadic structure of personality space in the house mouse resembles that of species with known personality badges; suggesting reciprocal hierarchies are an evolutionary motif with mixed strategies being more common

Abstract

Differences in animal personalities are generally hard to measure - even in an animal as common as the house mouse. Yet, in some rare cases, nature has provided us with clear visual cues as to the nature of a specific individual. These so-called badges are the case for the side botched lizard, often referred to as the rock-paper-scissor lizard. Here, we show that mice have behavioral archetypes that are similar to the triadic social dynamics of the lizards. We find analogs in territoriality, aggressiveness, and pro-social behavior linking ultra-dominant, dominant, and subordinate mice to the lizards orange, blue, and yellow morphs accordingly. Yet, unlike the lizards, most mice in the study displayed mixed strategies rather than fall into clear behavioral archetypes. In such a case, it makes less sense to have distinct visual cues to distinguish between personalities. The result implies that, although visual distinctions are infrequent in nature, having multiple behavioral archetypes might serve as an evolutionary motif. In addition, we find that mammals, like mice, might have circular hierarchies, similar to the lizards, where no single behavioral strategy outweighs others.