Elk entering vigilance mode. Credit: Simone Ciuti
A new study has shown that elk become more fearful when people are around because they perceive humans as predators.
The scientists published their findings in the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers studied elk (Cervus canadensis) in Alberta, Canada. The results come from a year-long study that tracked 424 herds and 870 individuals on public, private, and protected land. The scientists observed the animals from a safe distance and recorded their behavior. The researchers found that humans accounted for the greatest degree of disturbance to the elk, even more so than natural predators, such as wolves, cougars, and grizzly bears.
When elk encountered humans, especially on public lands where hunting and ATV use were permitted, the animals snapped quickly into vigilance mode, scanning for danger. One car passing every 2 hours was enough to induce this behavior, which detracts from feeding and leaves females in a less healthy state for breeding.
“Humans are playing the same role as a natural predator, but probably at even higher levels,” states Simone Ciuti, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Alberta, and lead author. Ciuti and her colleagues plan on investigating how different human activities, like hunting and hiking impact the animals’ behavior. They also plan on finding out whether this applies to species like caribou (Rangifer tarandus), possibly helping to explain the caribou’s decline in recent years.
Reference: “Effects of Humans on Behaviour of Wildlife Exceed Those of Natural Predators in a Landscape of Fear” by Simone Ciuti, Joseph M. Northrup, Tyler B. Muhly, Silvia Simi, Marco Musiani, Justin A. Pitt and Mark S. Boyce, 28 November 2012, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050611
caribou! it look like they got their facts wrong because where caribou live where no one lives and caribou can be semi-domesticated. their is also place in kentucky called LBL they have elk and bison prairie where you can drive a car around and look at the elk and the elk dont stop feeding. heck the elk could care less that your even their. next time you have hypothesis on some thing dont forget to add in your control.