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Life

Life decisions separate 'hawk' from 'dove'

By Rowan Hooper

30 May 2007

ASK anyone who has regular contact with animals – from farmers to pet owners – and they will tell you that animals have personalities. Some are docile, some are tetchy. Animals are individuals, with a range of temperaments, from aggressive to shy. Explaining the evolution of personality has been difficult. Now it seems the decisions animals make about how to live their lives and when to reproduce may be what gives them their personalities.

“The decisions animals make about how to live their lives and reproduce may be what gives them their personalities”

To test the idea, Max Wolf of the theoretical…

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