Moose on the loose: personality-driven space use and activity in a large, free-roaming cervid

Bruno Esattore , Fredrik Stenbacka, Göran Ericsson, Wiebke Neumann

Background
Animal personality (i.e., consistent inter individual behavioural and physiological differences that are repeatable over time and across contexts) has important implications for ecological processes, yet remains poorly studied in large herbivores such as cervids.
Methods
In this study, we investigated personality and the occurrence of a behavioural syndrome in 33 free ranging female moose (Alces alces) inhabiting a human dominated boreal landscape in central Sweden, using long term GPS tracking data. We quantified three movement based behavioural traits (movement rate as a proxy of activity, intensity of space as a proxy of exploration, and distance from forest edge as a proxy of boldness) and assessed their repeatability and covariance using linear mixed models and Bayesian multivariate approaches.
Results
We found strong and repeatable inter individual variation across all traits (repeatability: 0.40–0.61), demonstrating clear evidence of personality in moose. Trait expression was significantly influenced by both intrinsic factors (e.g., age) and extrinsic environmental drivers (e.g., daylength, proximity to human infrastructure), indicating that personality is expressed within a context of environmental modulation. However, despite pronounced individual differences, we found no evidence for consistent correlations among traits, and thus no support for a behavioural syndrome.
Conclusions
The absence of a behavioural syndrome likely reflects the complex and heterogeneous conditions of human dominated, multi predator landscapes, where individuals must respond flexibly to multiple, and sometimes conflicting, selective pressures. This may favour independent adjustment of behavioural traits rather than covariation of multiple traits.
Our findings highlight that, although personality is present in moose, behavioural traits may remain weakly integrated in complex environments, emphasizing the role of behavioural plasticity in shaping individual strategies. These results provide a valuable baseline for future studies investigating how personality varies across environmental gradients and influences ecological processes, population dynamics, and management outcomes in large herbivores.