In the genes

Study finds that boldness in great tits is inherited

source: New Scientist no 2372, December 7 2002 p27

Dutch researchers have found that boldness in great tits is inherited. The researchers, from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Heteren, Holland, rated birds according to how bold they were in investigating novel objects. They used a scale of 1 to 20 in rating the birds. They then matched the boldest birds together, and the shyest birds, and used foster parents to raise the offspring. The bolder birds' descendents were rated nine points higher than the descendents of thes shyer birds, after four generations had been bred.
BI,BT.