A UK team led by researchers from Liverpool John Moores University studied Gouldian finches, highly sociable Australian birds. In their newly published study, they show that the head colour of a Gouldian finch can determine the bird’s personality.
They measured three aspects of personality – aggression, boldness and risk-taking.
Researchers found Gouldian finches with red heads tend to be more aggressive while those with black heads tend to be bolder and are more risk takers.
With head colour reflecting personality traits, researchers believe that birds can quickly choose which birds they should avoid and which birds they should associate with when in large flocks.
Terri-Lee Reid
Terri-Lee Reid is a Freshwater Conservation Researcher at the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF). She leads initiatives in researching, designing and delivering freshwater programs and advocating CWF’s freshwater positions to government, the public and other stakeholders.
