Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear?
Predators affect prey’s behaviour which can lead preys to change their spatial use of the habitat, creating a landscape of fear. This is not generally the case for white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which as megaherbivores (<1000 kg) are relatively invulnerable to non-human predators. However,...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Second cycle, A2E |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2020
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16213/ |
| _version_ | 1855572708514856960 |
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| author | Gambra Caravantes, Daniel |
| author_browse | Gambra Caravantes, Daniel |
| author_facet | Gambra Caravantes, Daniel |
| author_sort | Gambra Caravantes, Daniel |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Predators affect prey’s behaviour which can lead preys to change their spatial use of the habitat, creating a landscape of fear. This is not generally the case for white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which as megaherbivores (<1000 kg) are relatively invulnerable to non-human predators. However, due to poaching, rhinos are exposed to a human predation pressure, which would be expected to create a landscape of fear. It is uncertain if rhinos recognize human predator and, if they do, it is unknown whether they exhibit successful anti-predator responses to human predation risk or not. In this study, I conducted a landscape-scale playback experiment testing if rhinos exhibited different anti-predator responses when they were exposed to non-threatening sounds (i.e. control sounds) and several threatening sounds (i.e. lion, human voices and gunshots). I evaluated whether rhino showed anti-predator responses to different simulated risk sounds. In addition, I tested whether rhino anti-predator responses to those sounds were stronger in high poaching intensity areas. The experiment showed that rhinos ran from all sounds that simulated risk, responded defensively from gunshot and lion sounds and increased vigilance for human voices and lion sounds. However, the strength of their responses did not increase with poaching intensity. The results of this study could be useful for implementing management anti-poaching strategies in the future. |
| format | Second cycle, A2E |
| id | RepoSLU16213 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Swedish Inglés |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU162132020-10-20T01:00:44Z https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16213/ Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? Gambra Caravantes, Daniel Nature conservation and land resources Predators affect prey’s behaviour which can lead preys to change their spatial use of the habitat, creating a landscape of fear. This is not generally the case for white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which as megaherbivores (<1000 kg) are relatively invulnerable to non-human predators. However, due to poaching, rhinos are exposed to a human predation pressure, which would be expected to create a landscape of fear. It is uncertain if rhinos recognize human predator and, if they do, it is unknown whether they exhibit successful anti-predator responses to human predation risk or not. In this study, I conducted a landscape-scale playback experiment testing if rhinos exhibited different anti-predator responses when they were exposed to non-threatening sounds (i.e. control sounds) and several threatening sounds (i.e. lion, human voices and gunshots). I evaluated whether rhino showed anti-predator responses to different simulated risk sounds. In addition, I tested whether rhino anti-predator responses to those sounds were stronger in high poaching intensity areas. The experiment showed that rhinos ran from all sounds that simulated risk, responded defensively from gunshot and lion sounds and increased vigilance for human voices and lion sounds. However, the strength of their responses did not increase with poaching intensity. The results of this study could be useful for implementing management anti-poaching strategies in the future. 2020-10-08 Second cycle, A2E NonPeerReviewed application/pdf sv https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16213/1/gambra_caravantes_d_201008.pdf Gambra Caravantes, Daniel, 2020. Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear?. Second cycle, A2E. Umeå: (S) > Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies <https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/view/divisions/OID-251.html> urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-s-16213 eng |
| spellingShingle | Nature conservation and land resources Gambra Caravantes, Daniel Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title | Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title_full | Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title_fullStr | Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title_short | Anti-predatory responses of White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. Does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| title_sort | anti-predatory responses of white rhinoceros (ceratotherium simum) to simulated risk. does poaching create a landscape of fear? |
| topic | Nature conservation and land resources |
| url | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16213/ https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/16213/ |