Neonatal Personality and Growth in Fallow Deer, 8-Year Study

Eight years of data on neonatal behavioral and physiological reactivity, early-life growth, and yearling male antler size in fallow deer (Dama dama). The dataset, created by cong yu and last updated in 2026, likely contains individual-level measurements used to analyze sex-specific developmental pathways and the pace-of-life syndrome.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between neonatal behavioral reactivity and early-life growth based on described trait correlations.
• Investigating sex-specific developmental trade-offs in a sexually dimorphic herbivore as mentioned in the description.
• Applying structural equation modeling to test how neonatal personality shapes longer-term phenotypic quality, as referenced in the study.
• Analyzing the persistence of neonatal behavioral effects on male secondary sexual trait (antler) size through reduced growth.

Strengths

• Data spans eight years, providing a longitudinal perspective on development.
• Includes multiple trait types: behavioral reactivity, physiological heart rate, growth metrics, and morphological antler size.
• License is CC-BY-4.0, permitting broad reuse with attribution.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (128.3 KB), indicating limited scope or a subset of analyzed data.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Field measurements of wild fallow deer, as described in the associated research.

Time Range

Study period covers eight years (specific years not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-23 10:43:15; freshness should be verified.