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’s foraging behaviour by influencing their food-searching strategies.

Animal personality is of great ecological and evolutionary significance and has been documented in many animal taxa. Despite genetic background, personality might be prominently shaped by external environments, and it is significant to explore the environmental factors that influence the ontogeny of animal personality in early life. Here, we reared newborn mosquitofish Gambusia affinis under different treatments of risk predictability (i.e., no risks, unpredictable risks, risks at 5 min after feeding and risks at 2 h after feeding) and measured their two personality traits at sexual maturity. We measured the behavioral repeatability, correlation between behavioral characteristics, and the impact of risk predictability. We found that the fish showed repeatability in exploration in all risk treatments, as well as repeatability in shyness under predictable risks. When growing up in risk treatments, no matter predictable or unpredictable, shyness and exploration showed a negative correlation, suggesting a behavioral syndrome between the two behavioral traits. The fish reared under predictable risks were less explorative than those under unpredictable risks, while there were no differences in shyness among treatments. Besides, smaller fish were bolder and more explorative than larger ones. Our findings imply that risk predictability in early life may play an important role in shaping animal personality and modifying the average behavioral levels.