Individual and Sexual Differences in Time to Habituate to Food-stimuli Presentation of Potential Prey in Hyla japonica

Abstract

The traits of many animal species exhibit individual and sexual differences. Individuals repeatedly receiving a stimulus without harm become habituated to it. However, few studies have been conducted on individual and sexual differences in the process of habituation to unfamiliar food stimuli. Therefore, we hypothesized that individual differences or sexual differences would be observed in reaction to an in-lab food-stimuli presentation of potential prey items (after that “food stimuli”). We tested the hypothesis using the Japanese tree frog Hyla japonica, and conducted statistical analyses of these results. A generalized linear model (GLM) showed individual and sexual differences in time to get used to the food stimuli. Females habituated more rapidly to food stimuli than males. The difference between sexes is discussed in view of two ultimate and one proximate reasons.