University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia Neophobia, or aversion to novelty, is important for adaptability and survival as it influences the ways in which animals navigate risk and interact with their environments. Across individuals, species and other taxonomic levels, neophobia is known to vary considerably, but our understanding of the wider ecological drivers of neophobia is hampered by a lack of comparative multispecies studies using standardized methods. Here, we utilized the ManyBirds Project, a Big Team Science large-scale collaborative open science framework, to pool efforts and resources of 129 collaborators at 77 institutions from 24 countries worldwide across six continents. We examined both difference scores (between novel object test and control conditions) and raw data of latency to touch familiar food in the presence (test) and absence (control) of a novel object among 1,439 subjects from 136 bird species across 25 taxonomic orders incorporating lab, field, and zoo sites. We first demonstrated that consistent differences in neophobia existed among individuals, among species, and among other taxonomic levels in our dataset, rejecting the null hypothesis that neophobia is highly plastic at all taxonomic levels with no evidence for evolutionary divergence. We then tested for effects of ecological factors on neophobia, including diet, sociality, habitat, and range, while accounting for phylogeny. We found that (i) species with more specialist diets were more neophobic than those with more generalist diets, providing support for the Neophobia Threshold Hypothesis; (ii) migratory species were also more neophobic than nonmigratory species, which supports the Dangerous Niche Hypothesis. Our study shows that the evolution of avian neophobia has been shaped by ecological drivers and demonstrates the potential of Big Team Science to advance our understanding of animal behavior. en TEXT journal article Wissenschaftlicher Artikel Articolo di rivista Testo Articolo di rivista Text journal article Text Wissenschaftlicher Artikel Birds Animal Migration Habitats Domestic Animals Food Diet Ecological Niches Taxonomy 2025 2025 Kai R. Caspar Jimena Lois-Milevicich Carl Soulsbury Stephan A. Reber Claudia Mettke-Hofmann Megan Lambert Benjamin J. Ashton Alice M. I. Auersperg Melissa Bateson Solenne Belle Boris Bilčík Laura M. Biondi Francesco Bonadonna Desiree Brucks Michael W. Butler Samuel P. Caro Marion Charrier Tiffany Chatelin Johnathan Ching Nicola S. Clayton Benjamin J. Cluver Ella B. Cochran Francesca Cornero Emily Danby Samara Danel Martina Darwich James R. Davies Alicia de la Colina Dominik Fischer Ondřej Fišer Florencia Foitzick Edward C. Galluccio Clara Garcia-Co Elias Garcia-Pelegrin Isabelle George Kai-Philipp Gladow Raúl O. Gómez Anna Grewer Katie Grice Lauren M. Guillette Devon C. Hallihan Katie J. Harrington Frauke Heer Chloe Henry Vladimira Hodova Marisa Hoeschele Cécilia Houdelier Paula Ibáñez de Aldecoa Oluwaseun Serah Iyasere Yuka Kanemitsu Mina Khodadadi Duc Khong Melanie G. Kimball Ariana N. Klappert Lucy N. Koch Uta U. König von Borstel Lubor Košt’ál Anastasia Krasheninnikova Lubica Kubikova Connor T. Lambert Daan W. Laméris Courtenay G. Lampert Oceane Larousse Christine R. Lattin Zhongqiu Li Michael Lindenmeier Delia A. Lister Julia A. Mackenzie Selina Mainz Danna Masri Jorg J. M. Massen Laurenz Mohr Wendt Müller Paul M. Nealen Andreas Nieder Aurèle Novac Nínive Paes Cavalcante Kristina Pascual Carla Pascual-Guàrdia Ayushi Patel Katarína Pichová Cristina Pilenga Laurent Prétôt John L. Quinn Elena Račevska Juan C. Reboreda Sam Reynolds Amanda R. Ridley Theresa Rössler Francisco Ruiz-Raya Marina Salas Beatriz C. Saldanha Sebastián M. Santiago Nikola Schlöglová Gia Seatriz Eva Serrano-Davies Eva G. Shair Ali Janja Sirovnik Zuzana Skalná Katie E. Slocombe Masayo Soma Tiziana Srdoc Stefan Stanescu Michaela Syrová Alex H. Taylor Christopher N. Templeton Karlie Thompson Sandra Trigo Camille A. Troisi Utku Urhan Maurice Valbert Kees van Oers Alberto Velando Frederick Verbruggen Jorrit W. Verkleij Alizée Vernouillet Jonas Verspeek Petr Veselý Auguste M. P. von Bayern Eline Waalders Benjamin A. Whittaker Ella R. Williamson Vanessa A. D. Wilson Michelle A. Winfield Neslihan Wittek Karen K. L. Yeung Jade A. Zanutto Public Library of Science (PLoS)