Tigers have distinct personalities, according to big cat questionnaire | Science

To thrive in some of the harshest environments on Earth, Siberian tigers rely on thick coats of fur, fine-tuned night vision, and razor-sharp claws. But another critical survival tool is not so easily glimpsed: their personalities.

In the first study investigating the dispositions of tigers in a semiwild setting, researchers surveyed the caretakers of nearly 250 Siberian tigers about the cats’ personality traits. The findings, published today in the Royal Society Open Science, suggests the psychological makeup of Siberian tigers may affect their hunting, mating, and even social standing among their peers.

The work could help conservationists manage these endangered animals, says Ellen Williams, an ethologist at Harper Adams University who was not involved in the new study. With only about 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild, insights into how they interact with their environment are vital, she says.

The Siberian, or Amur, tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), is the largest tiger subspecies. It can weigh more than 200 kilograms. In the frigid forests of the Russian Far East and northeastern China, these burly cats stalk a variety of prey including birds, boars, and bears.

Like other populations of tigers, Siberian tigers are endangered by habitat loss from logging and expanding human settlement. Another threat is poaching—the cats’ body parts have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Today, there are estimated to be 10 times as many Siberian tigers living in captivity in Texas as in the wild.

So when scientists led by Rosalind Arden, a cognitive researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wanted to plumb the psyche of these fierce felines, they turned to 248 Siberian tigers living in two wildlife sanctuaries in northeastern China where groups of tigers roam in fenced-in swaths of forests or snowy grasslands. The team invited more than 50 feeders and veterinarians to fill out questionnaires with lists of 67 to 70 adjectives that described tiger personality traits for each cat in their care. These words ranged from “savage” and “imposing” to “dignified” and “friendly.” The researchers designed the questionnaires to mimic human personality tests.

In total, the caretakers completed more than 800 questionnaires, offering the researchers multiple personality surveys on each tiger. A battery of statistical analyses revealed whether particular adjectives clustered around certain tigers.

Two distinct personality types emerged that accounted for nearly 40% of the tigers’ behaviors. Tigers that scored higher on words such as confident, competitive, and ambitious fell under what the researchers labeled as the “majesty” mindset. Those that exhibited traits such as obedience, tolerance, and gentleness were grouped together under the “steadiness” mindset. Together, these two personalities explained 38% of the behavioral differences displayed by the tigers in the study.

According to Williams, the new findings resemble past data on both wild and domestic cats. She cites a review article that found the most common personality types across felines are sociable, dominant, and curious. “It would seem that ‘majesty’ aligns quite closely with a ‘dominant’ personality component,” she says, “and their ‘steadiness’ component aligns with components such as ‘calm.’”

These personality types seem to make a difference. Based on their weights and eating habits, the tigers with majesty mindsets were generally healthier than those with steadiness personalities. They also hunted more, mated more often, and had more breeding success. Tigers that scored higher on majesty traits also appeared to have a higher social status than tigers that scored higher in steadiness traits, according to their caretakers.

The researchers stress that more evidence is needed to determine why tigers with majesty mindsets appear to fare better than their steadier peers. “It could be that majesty is the dimension that gives animals the extra edge to take that extra risk,” Arden says. “If food resources are scarce, the tiger that is the higher risk-taker will get one extra hunt each month.”

A domineering mindset is not always key to success in the animal kingdom. Arden points out that in some primates such as chimpanzees, cooperative and friendly individuals can fare better socially than their aggressive counterparts. But Siberian tigers make their living by acquiring and defending large territories that can stretch up to 2000 square kilometers. In a tiger-eat-tiger world, aggression could be key.

The researchers hope that fleshing out the personalities of the world’s largest cats will bolster ongoing efforts to conserve them in the wild. Understanding how a particular tiger is wired may help conservationists manage its interaction with nearby human inhabitants, livestock, and even other tigers.

According to Arden, deciphering the psyches of the tigers could also make these breathtaking but dangerous big cats more relatable. “Our hope is that the illumination of the magnificence and rich interior life and personalities of these animals is making a tiny contribution to tiger welfare and conservation.”

To thrive in some of the harshest environments on Earth, Siberian tigers rely on thick coats of fur, fine-tuned night vision, and razor-sharp claws. But another critical survival tool is not so easily glimpsed: their personalities.

In the first study investigating the dispositions of tigers in a semiwild setting, researchers surveyed the caretakers of nearly 250 Siberian tigers about the cats’ personality traits. The findings, published today in the Royal Society Open Science, suggests the psychological makeup of Siberian tigers may affect their hunting, mating, and even social standing among their peers.

The work could help conservationists manage these endangered animals, says Ellen Williams, an ethologist at Harper Adams University who was not involved in the new study. With only about 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild, insights into how they interact with their environment are vital, she says.

The Siberian, or Amur, tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), is the largest tiger subspecies. It can weigh more than 200 kilograms. In the frigid forests of the Russian Far East and northeastern China, these burly cats stalk a variety of prey including birds, boars, and bears.

Like other populations of tigers, Siberian tigers are endangered by habitat loss from logging and expanding human settlement. Another threat is poaching—the cats’ body parts have long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Today, there are estimated to be 10 times as many Siberian tigers living in captivity in Texas as in the wild.

So when scientists led by Rosalind Arden, a cognitive researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wanted to plumb the psyche of these fierce felines, they turned to 248 Siberian tigers living in two wildlife sanctuaries in northeastern China where groups of tigers roam in fenced-in swaths of forests or snowy grasslands. The team invited more than 50 feeders and veterinarians to fill out questionnaires with lists of 67 to 70 adjectives that described tiger personality traits for each cat in their care. These words ranged from “savage” and “imposing” to “dignified” and “friendly.” The researchers designed the questionnaires to mimic human personality tests.

In total, the caretakers completed more than 800 questionnaires, offering the researchers multiple personality surveys on each tiger. A battery of statistical analyses revealed whether particular adjectives clustered around certain tigers.

Two distinct personality types emerged that accounted for nearly 40% of the tigers’ behaviors. Tigers that scored higher on words such as confident, competitive, and ambitious fell under what the researchers labeled as the “majesty” mindset. Those that exhibited traits such as obedience, tolerance, and gentleness were grouped together under the “steadiness” mindset. Together, these two personalities explained 38% of the behavioral differences displayed by the tigers in the study.

According to Williams, the new findings resemble past data on both wild and domestic cats. She cites a review article that found the most common personality types across felines are sociable, dominant, and curious. “It would seem that ‘majesty’ aligns quite closely with a ‘dominant’ personality component,” she says, “and their ‘steadiness’ component aligns with components such as ‘calm.’”

These personality types seem to make a difference. Based on their weights and eating habits, the tigers with majesty mindsets were generally healthier than those with steadiness personalities. They also hunted more, mated more often, and had more breeding success. Tigers that scored higher on majesty traits also appeared to have a higher social status than tigers that scored higher in steadiness traits, according to their caretakers.

The researchers stress that more evidence is needed to determine why tigers with majesty mindsets appear to fare better than their steadier peers. “It could be that majesty is the dimension that gives animals the extra edge to take that extra risk,” Arden says. “If food resources are scarce, the tiger that is the higher risk-taker will get one extra hunt each month.”

A domineering mindset is not always key to success in the animal kingdom. Arden points out that in some primates such as chimpanzees, cooperative and friendly individuals can fare better socially than their aggressive counterparts. But Siberian tigers make their living by acquiring and defending large territories that can stretch up to 2000 square kilometers. In a tiger-eat-tiger world, aggression could be key.

The researchers hope that fleshing out the personalities of the world’s largest cats will bolster ongoing efforts to conserve them in the wild. Understanding how a particular tiger is wired may help conservationists manage its interaction with nearby human inhabitants, livestock, and even other tigers.

According to Arden, deciphering the psyches of the tigers could also make these breathtaking but dangerous big cats more relatable. “Our hope is that the illumination of the magnificence and rich interior life and personalities of these animals is making a tiny contribution to tiger welfare and conservation.”