{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T01:27:55Z","timestamp":1792805275231,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]],"date-time":"2021-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1638316800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["31970500;31770571"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31970500;31770571"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Excellent Youth Project of the Anhui Natural Science Foundation","award":["2108085Y09"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2108085Y09"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Overall foraging success and ultimate fitness of an individual animal is highly dependent on their food-searching strategies, which are the focus of foraging theory. Considering the consistent inter-individual behavioural differences, personality may have a fundamental impact on animal food-scratching behaviour, which remains largely unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate how personality traits (i.e., boldness and exploration) affect the food-scratching behaviour and food intake of the domestic Japanese quail Coturnix japonica during the foraging process. The quails exhibited significant repeatability in boldness and exploration, which also constituted a behavioural syndrome. More proactive, that is, bolder and more explorative, individuals scratched the ground more frequently for food and began scratching earlier in a patch. Individuals that scratched more frequently had a longer foraging time and a higher food intake. The correlation between personality traits and temporary food intake during every 2 min varied over time and was sex dependent, with females exhibiting a positive correlation during the first half of the foraging stage and males after the initial stage. These findings suggest that personality traits affect the food-scratching behaviour and, thus, the food intake of quails. Our study provides insights into the impact of personality traits on animal\u2019s foraging behaviour by influencing their food-searching strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11123423","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,30]],"date-time":"2021-11-30T23:22:56Z","timestamp":1638314576000},"page":"3423","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Effects of Personality Traits on the Food-Scratching Behaviour and Food Intake of Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Xinyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xue","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gangcha Forestry and Grassland Bureau, Qinghai 812300, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Renxin","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunlin","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"},{"name":"Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecosystem Protection and Restoration, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Feng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1480","DOI":"10.1111\/1365-2656.12401","article-title":"Diet complexity in early life affects survival in released pheasants by altering foraging efficiency, food choice, handling skills and gut morphology","volume":"84","author":"Whiteside","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. 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