# Development of Stereotypic Behaviors and Personality Traits of Captive Male Forest Musk Deer and Relationships with Musk Secretion

## TL;DR

This study explores how personality traits and repetitive behaviors in captive male forest musk deer relate to musk quality, offering insights for better breeding and conservation strategies.

## Contribution

The study identifies a novel link between exploratory personality traits and musk quality in forest musk deer.

## Key findings

- Exploratory and active personalities correlate with higher muscone content in musk.
- Stereotypic behaviors do not significantly affect musk production or quality.
- Personality traits can inform breeding and conservation strategies for captive musk deer.

## Abstract

Musk deer are shy and easily stressed, and thus struggle to adapt to artificial environments compared to other captive animals. This stress can lead to them performing unnatural, repetitive behaviors. Understanding their individual personalities could help us improve their welfare and manage them better. In this study, we watched the behavior of 25 male forest musk deer living on a farm in China. We recorded how often they performed repetitive actions and assessed their personalities, categorizing them as more exploratory and active or more cautious. We also measured the amount and quality of the musk secreted by the male musk deer, a valuable substance used in medicine. We found that musk deer with more exploratory and active personalities produced higher quality musk. The repetitive behaviors were generally mild and did not reduce their musk production. This suggests that an animal’s personality could serve as a useful guide for breeding programs. More curious and active individuals might be better suited for captive farms, while shyer individuals might be more appropriate candidates for release into the wild. These findings offer a simple way to help conservation efforts for this endangered species.

Forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) are endangered ungulates, and captive breeding has been effective for its ex situ conservation and sustainable medicinal musk utilization in traditional Asian traditional medicine. Methods of focal sampling and all-occurrence recording were used to evaluate the intensity of stereotypic behaviors and personality traits in 25 captive male forest musk deer. Additionally, musk secretion was monitored in this study, and muscone content was measured with gas chromatography, thereby analyzing the interrelationship between their stereotypic behavior, personality traits, and musk secretion. The results revealed no significant differences in stereotypic behaviors or personality traits across age groups (p > 0.05). Individuals with stereotypic behaviors showed a tendency toward secreting higher amounts of musk and muscone content compared to those without stereotypic behaviors, although these differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the exploratory behavior level and active behavior level were not significantly correlated with the secretion amount of musk. However, both the exploratory behavior level and active behavior level exhibited significant positive correlations with muscone content (p < 0.05). These findings provide valuable insights for the breeding, welfare, and ex situ conservation of endangered forest musk deer.