Authors

Alexis Erickson

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

The nature versus nurture debate of personality has been widely researched, yet it has seldom used cloned animals. Since cloned animals are genetically identical to their donors, this avenue of research provides a unique opportunity to understand the genetic and environmental factors of personality. To explore these influences of personality, a donor polo pony and her cloned offspring were analyzed. The trainers of the horses rated each horse based on its personality traits and physical characteristics. A positive correlation was found between the personality of the donor horse and her cloned offspring. Moreover, the personality of the donor positively predicted the personality of the clones. The results were not significant, however, due to the study’s limitations, but previous literature suggests that such relationships would exist. Future research would address these limitations as well as explore the relationship between the current factors and behavioral performance.

Publication Date

12-1-2021

Language

English

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