Male birds that exhibit 'shy' social behaviour are much more
likely to join flocks of birds with a similar personality than their 'bold'
male counterparts, a new study has found. But shy birds also have fewer social
partners than bold birds.
The research, carried out by scientists from Oxford
University and the Australian National University, used a new way of analysing
the social networks that link individual animals to each other – a kind of
'Facebook for birds' – to reveal how
differences between individuals underpin the way that social interactions occur
across populations.