Data from: Variation in defensive and exploratory behaviors across a rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus × viridis) hybrid zone in southwestern New Mexico

Studies on individual variability and stability in behavioral types and
syndromes—animal personalities—have surged in recent decades. Behavioral
ecologists have an expanding appreciation for how personality traits
mediate evolutionary processes. Research focusing on the significance of
personality in shaping hybridization between lineages, however, is
limited. Case studies have shown that hybridization has multiple effects
on behavioral syndromes, including both eliminating syndromes present in
parental lineages and generating novel syndromes within hybrids. Here, we
assessed the behavioral types and syndromes of individuals across a
naturally occurring rattlesnake hybrid zone (Crotalus scutulatus ×
viridis) in southwestern New Mexico. We used behavioral assays to quantify
defensive and explorative behaviors, and determined if behavioral types
were correlated with spatial and hunting behaviors of free-ranging
individuals. We found that C. viridis was more prone to rattle than C.
scutulatus during handling tests. Similarly, hybrid individuals (C.
scutulatus × viridis) having a higher proportion of their genome derived
from C. viridis were also more prone to rattle. Although parental and
hybrid snakes exhibited behavioral syndromes in defensiveness and
exploratory behaviors, further research is necessary to determine whether
these patterns might impact hybrid fitness by creating mismatches between
behavioral types and predation pressures under natural conditions.