PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Macarena G. GomezdelaTorre Clavel
AU  - Mason Youngblood
AU  - David Lahti
TI  - Relationship between personality and cognitive traits in domestic rabbits (<em>Oryctolagus cuniculus</em>)
AID  - 10.1101/2020.10.12.336024
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.10.12.336024
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/12/2020.10.12.336024.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/12/2020.10.12.336024.full
AB  - Domestication is the process by which species adapt to, and are artificially selected for, human-made environments. Few studies have explored how the process of domestication has affected the connection between behavioral traits and cognitive abilities in animals. This study investigated the relationship between personality and cognitive traits in domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Fifteen individuals kept in a rabbit rescue facility were tested over a period of two months. We measured the linkage between behavioral traits (response to a novel object and exploration time) and cognitive performance. Our results suggest that there is no relationship between personality traits and problem solving abilities in domestic rabbits. In addition, our results suggest that exploration time is significantly repeatable at the individual level while latency to approach a novel object is not. Thus further research is needed to explore the relationship between cognitive and personality traits in domestic rabbits.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.