Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on December 7, 2005
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arj020
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 Graduate Group in Animal Behavior, Department of Psychology, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. In predator-prey encounters, many factors influence risk perception by prey and their decision to flee. Previous studies indicate that prey take flight at longer distances when they detect predators at longer distances and when the predator's behavior indicates the increased likelihood of attack. We examined the flight decisions of Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) using an approaching human whose speed, directness of approach, directness of gaze, and simulated gun carrying varied. Deer fled at greater distances when approached more quickly and directly, and there was a concave-down quadratic trend in the relationship between the distances at which the predator began its approach and at which the deer became alert (alert distance [AD]), indicating that deer have a zone of awareness beyond which there is a delay in detecting an approaching predator. Time spent assessing the approacher (assessment time) was shorter during faster approaches and was positively related with AD. Deer fled at longer distances and had shorter assessment times when they were already alert to the predator at the initiation of approach. Males fled at shorter distances than females when approached during the gun-holding condition, and males had shorter assessment times than females when the approacher averted his gaze. Such sex differences in risk assessment might reflect male motivation during the mating season as well as exposure to human hunting. We suggest that risk assessment is affected the by the predator's behavior, the state of awareness of the prey, and the distance at which they detect the predator.
Received June 13, 2005
Revised November 2, 2005
Accepted November 11, 2005
Article
Effects of predator behavior and proximity on risk assessment by Columbian black-tailed deer
Theodore Stankowich 1 *
and
Richard G. Coss 2
2 Department of Psychology, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Theodore Stankowich, E-mail: tstankowich{at}ucdavis.edu
Abstract 
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  W. E. Cooper Jr and W. G. Frederick Predator lethality, optimal escape behavior, and autotomy Behav. Ecol., November 19, 2009; (2009) arp151v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. A. Jones and J.-G. J. Godin Are fast explorers slow reactors? Linking personality type and anti-predator behaviour Proc R Soc B, October 28, 2009; (2009) rspb.2009.1607v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. E. Cooper Jr, D. Hawlena, and V. Perez-Mellado Interactive effect of starting distance and approach speed on escape behavior challenges theory Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2009; 20(3): 542 - 546. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. E. Cooper Jr Fleeing and hiding under simultaneous risks and costs Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2009; 20(3): 665 - 671. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. E. Cooper Jr Theory successfully predicts hiding time: new data for the lizard Sceloporus virgatus and a review Behav. Ecol., May 1, 2009; 20(3): 585 - 592. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Stankowich When predators become prey: flight decisions in jumping spiders Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2009; 20(2): 318 - 327. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Stankowich and R. G. Coss Effects of risk assessment, predator behavior, and habitat on escape behavior in Columbian black-tailed deer Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2007; 18(2): 358 - 367. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Stankowich and R. G Coss The re-emergence of felid camouflage with the decay of predator recognition in deer under relaxed selection Proc R Soc B, January 22, 2007; 274(1607): 175 - 182. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|