Individuals within animal species often show wide variation in behavioural traits, such as willingness to explore novel habitats or take risks around predators. This behavioural variation is often correlated with other traits including body size or metabolic rate. In a new study by Shaun Killen and colleagues in Germany, it was observed that for juvenile zebrafish, the tendency of individuals to take risks was explained by variation in body length but not necessarily body mass or baseline metabolic demand.
Read more in the open access article in the Journal of Fish Biology, here!:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfb.13100/full
Polverino, G., Bierbach, D., Killen, S.S., Uusi-Heikkilä, S., Arlinghaus, R. 2016. Body length rather than routine metabolic rate and body condition correlates with risk-taking behaviour in juvenile zebrafish (Danio rerio). Journal of Fish Biology. doi:10.1111/jfb.13100
