The great tit experiments show that levels of exploration
have both costs and benefits—costs in terms of getting
into aggressive encounters, with all the harm that can bring,
and benefits in terms of holding resources or territories
when these are limited. The optimal balance between these
costs and benefits depends on exact local conditions and the
sex of the individual. As these vary, the overall population
maintains a normal distribution of exploratory tendencies,
with genetic polymorphism underlying it.