Do insects have personalities? Do invertebrates in general exhibit "personalities"?
-
I’m so thankful the internet showed me how cute they are. The ones I’m familiar with are too small to see the facial features and proportions. But now that I know I think they’re super cute.
I don’t mind spiders at all but I can totally understand why people have arachnophobia. That’s why I find it hilarious that there’s this one species, a “jumping” species no less, that magically can flip from grotesque to cute.
I really can't stand spiders except for jumping spiders. They have caused me to become a lot less hostile towards spiders in general
-
I have kept a bunch of invertebrates (spiders) from the same species and yes, they do have "personality" in the sense that indivduals do react differently to the same or at least a very similar situation. Consistently.
Any examples?
-
What is a personality
We had a scorpion growing up that liked me and not my brother, despite both of us being roughly equally responsible for feeding it. It would come right up to me and take food out of my hand but backed away and tried to not make contact with my brother. That's enough for me without getting all philosophical about what "personality" means.
It's name was Viggo, as in Mortenson, as in Strider, the Heir of Isildur.
-
What is a personality
wrote on last edited by [email protected]If by personality you mean individual-level differences in behavior, yes, definitely. (It's old now but it holds up)
I mean, it'd be odd if there was variation like there is in all organisms but it somehow didn't extend to the brain.
Even wilder, because of the semi-decentralised way an octopus's central nervous system is set up, it's been suggested each tentacle might have a personality of it's own, on top of the octopus's!
-
Any examples?
I think it's most obvious when you're trying to handle a spider (letting it walk on people, which I generally don't recommend anymore, but we we're young).
We had several Brachypelma hamorii, which are generally quite docil but one of them was especially chill. You could just gently push her around and she'd walk whereever you'd guide her.
-
This comment made me cry. Imagine being a little snail with your little snail best friends getting excited for some lettuce. I can't handle that.
Snails are the cutest. I used go have them.
They also love scaping their enclosure and hiding. Some of them scape more than others and some had favourite hiding spots.
-
This comment made me cry. Imagine being a little snail with your little snail best friends getting excited for some lettuce. I can't handle that.
If this made you cry, don't think about the fact that swans can be gay.
-
If by personality you mean individual-level differences in behavior, yes, definitely. (It's old now but it holds up)
I mean, it'd be odd if there was variation like there is in all organisms but it somehow didn't extend to the brain.
Even wilder, because of the semi-decentralised way an octopus's central nervous system is set up, it's been suggested each tentacle might have a personality of it's own, on top of the octopus's!
That surprised me about octopuses. They're really cool animals.
-
Spider warning (it's a jumping spider, so it's tiny): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/59fZMRVoHCc
Certainly nothing to the level of people or even cats and dogs, but handling does improve personality. Jumping spiders will often recognize their tanks and immediate location as safe territory. They will also start to recognize their handlers as the food bringers and "beg".
I understand if it's still offputting if you're not into creep crawlies, but jumping spiders are sometimes referred to as "octokittens" due to their tendency to be tiny little divas who sit around and clean themselves like cats. It might look a little scary, but when they start waving their front legs around like that they aren't rearing up in defense like a tarantula, that's their "give me uppies" pose. You'll see a lot of videos of them online leaping at the camera; that's not them attacking, that's them treating all of life like a jungle gym. Personally I think they're adorable and I recommend watching more videos from people who love them if you want to see more personality.
EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gEMPLrWh35g , tell me that's not a cat!
EDIT 2: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DZkaLAoREWo , I think my favorite thing about jumping spiders is you can tell how smart they are. The way they look around and scan their environment and really seem to see things and take it in. You can almost hear the tiny gears turning in their heads as they consider things.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a-QpxmSD9jo , they'll also chase laser pointers like a cat.
Endlessly fascinating animals to me, I love them.
Jumping spiders are my favorite after reading children of time
-
What is a personality
I'm not sure, but the neighbours hand raised a starling who then decided we were his best friend, and I've never seen such a personality in a bird. He would yell through the kitchen window for me to come get him and take him for a drive around the block. He loved the car, came for walks with me and my dogs sitting atop my head and rooting through my hair, teased my dog by sitting just out of his reach and squawking at him as a joke, and it was SO amazing, but you could actually pick his specific voice out among all the many chirping birds when he was chirping at us to come outside and pay attention to him and feed him, I had no idea wild birds could be so very funny and demanding. He's still alive five years later and summons the neighbour to come outside and give him mealworms by yelling through the window.
