Seabirds have distinct individual personalities that affect where they feed and how likely they are to prosper, a pair of recent studies suggests.
This could have implications for conservation, because it means threats like being caught on fishing lines and drowned may be more serious for some birds than others, and this could lead to imbalances across whole populations.
The first study, published in Oikos, shows that northern gannets have individual feeding styles that are consistent over time. That is, they repeatedly fly to waters with similar characteristics in search of food, seeming to specialise in hunting in particular ocean environments and probably even in different kinds of prey. This variation may benefit the colony by reducing competition for food.
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