Neonatal personality is linked to trappability in a large mammal

Individuals can exhibit repeatable behavioural differences, known as animal personality. One area of interest is how these personalities relate to ‘trappability’; that is, the likelihood of being captured by humans. However, a unified conclusion is lacking due to the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Neonates, with minimal exposure to external influences, offer a unique opportunity to fill this knowledge gap. This study examined 251 fallow deer, Dama dama, fawns over 3 years to test the relationship between neonatal personality and trappability. Neonatal personalities were evaluated using heart rate during handling and latency to leave upon release, which were repeatable and negatively correlated physiological and behavioural responses to human handling, respectively. Fawns with longer latency to leave (stayers) were captured more frequently than those leaving earlier (runners), whereas heart rate did not predict trappability. By introducing heart rate, our findings suggest a more complex relationship between personality and trappability, with only the latency to leave being related to trappability. Concurrent research linked the heart rate to early-life survival and the latency to leave to vigilance levels during the first year of life. Our study adds a crucial piece to the puzzle, suggesting that different correlated dimensions of animal personality can be linked to different life history traits.