Personality and dominance shape core area use and territory-related signalling in a feral ungulate

Abstract

Space use strategies determine how animals acquire resources and encounter competitors, which ultimately influence their survival. Instead of utilising their entire range uniformly, animals typically concentrate activity in locations where resources are most valuable, and these 'core areas' provide key insights into the behavioural strategies underlying space use. Although competitive ability is often expected to influence core area use, substantial individual-level variation remains unexplained. Consistent behavioural differences among individuals, or personality, may contribute to this variation, but their role in shaping spatial behaviour under natural conditions is poorly understood. To address this gap, we observed adult males (n=24) from a free-ranging, semi-urban population of Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). We quantified individual core area size and territory-related signalling behaviour, and assessed personality from >9,300 minutes of observations. Most males (79%) shared overlapping core areas with one to five other males but with clear dominance relationships. Social engagement, reflecting a social personality, was positively associated with core area size in subordinates, but not in dominant males. Social engagement was also positively associated with territory-related signalling frequency. By contrast, a non-social personality labelled as activity-maintenance did not influence with core area size or signalling behaviour. We also found that dominant males exhibited lower signalling frequencies than subordinates. Overall, we show that personality and dominance are associated with distinct aspects of spatial behaviour. These findings demonstrate that individual spatial strategies emerge from the interplay between behavioural phenotypes and social lives, highlighting the spatial-social interface as a source of variation in animal space use.