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When most wild animals first encounter humans, they respond as they would to any predator—by running, swimming or flying away.
Over time, some species become more tolerant of humans' presence, but the extent to which they do is largely driven by the type of environment in which the animals live and by the animal's body size, according to a comprehensive new analysis.
Researchers led by Daniel Blumstein, a professor and chair of ecology and evolutionary biology in the UCLA College, analyzed 75 studies conducted over the past half-century of 212 animal species—mostly birds, but also mammals and lizards. The scientists estimated species' tolerance to human disturbance by comparing how far away from humans an animal would have to be before it fled—a statistic called "flight initiation distance."
The paper was published today in Nature Communications.
Among the findings:
- Birds in more heavily populated urban areas are much more tolerant of humans than birds in rural areas.
- Larger birds are more tolerant of humans than smaller birds.
Why Are Some Wild Animals More Tolerant to Human Interaction Than Others? No.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Wednesday November 18 2015, @10:16AM
Animals have been hunted for countless generations. It's no mystery why offspring of the survivors is hesitant to interact with us.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday November 19 2015, @03:33AM
Prey animals are just as or more afraid of other predators. Human hunters are not extra-scary, and being hunted by humans is not something unique to their lives. In the wild, everything is hunted by something else.
In fact, prey animals often figure out that human presence means there won't be other predators. And if humans are especially scary, someone needs to tell the deer and elk that sometimes come right into town...
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.