Year: 2025
Grant: £880
Rachel Thomson
University of Portsmouth, UK
Studying personality – the identification of consistent individual behaviours – can enhance welfare in captive settings; informing management strategies such as tailored enrichment programs, captive breeding and training methods. However, previous methods of quantifying personality rely on behavioural coding (which may lack consistency across contexts) or trait-rating approaches (which risks subjective interpretation). As zoo animal personality is commonly assessed using observer ratings, this could pose challenges for species like elephants, whose behaviours are complex and context dependent. It is crucial to consistently and accurately assess individual personalities, so that strategies to ensure the welfare of captive elephants can be tailored to the needs of individual populations.
Aiming to alleviate the problems of previous personality methodologies, the Captive Elephant Personality Questionnaire (CEPQ), is a descriptive tool designed to assess personality traits in captive elephants based on keepers’ evaluations of behavioural tendencies. However, for the CEPQ to be an effective method for personality assessment, it must demonstrate reliability and validity. This study will assess whether the CEPQ can consistently identify behavioural traits across individuals (reliability), and whether it accurately measures what it intends to measure: personality domains of captive elephants (validity). Reliability will be tested through intra-rater, inter-rater, and test-retest analyses, while validity will be assessed by comparing personality domains extracted from CEPQ scores to historical behavioural welfare data and present-day behavioural observations.
Once validated, we aim for the CEPQ to be integrated into the Elephant Welfare App, enabling keepers to monitor personality stability over time. As changes in personality could indicate deviations in cognitive and behavioural welfare, and as the App is used globally – individualised welfare strategies will be able to be tailored across many elephant holding institutions. Ultimately, this research aims to improve captive elephant welfare by providing a scientifically rigorous, standardised method for personality assessment, supporting evidence-based management decisions.