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- Title
Personality-dependent responses of elk to predatory pursuits.
- Authors
FOUND, ROB
- Abstract
Personality in wildlife has been linked to several ecological processes including mortality risk, facultative migration, and behavioral plasticity. In this paper I examined the relationship between personality and antipredator tactics exhibited by 20 wild female elk (Cervus canadensis) in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Two observers conducted 106 separate chases designed explicitly to resemble predator pursuits by wolves, the main predator of elk. We quantified and classified elk tactical responses during each chase. Elk with "shy" type personalities responded to 84% of predatorresembling pursuits by employing speed-based tactics to outrun pursuers or rejoin conspecifics. Elk with "bold" type personalities adopted this tactic just 11% of the time, and instead employed tactics where they stopped and evaluated pursuers in 45% of chases, attempted to hide from pursuers in 19% of chases, and turned aggressively toward pursuers in 17% of chases. Bold animals employed a greater variety of tactics overall and were more likely to try multiple tactics within the same 10-min chase. Shyness was also positively correlated with flight initiation distance at the start of chases. These results are important for wildlife managers who may be artificially and unwittingly selecting against certain personalities and thereby influencing management and conservation outcomes.
- Subjects
JASPER National Park (Alta.); ALBERTA; ELK; PSYCHOLOGICAL typologies; WOLVES; BASHFULNESS; NATIONAL parks &; reserves
- Publication
Western North American Naturalist, 2022, Vol 82, Issue 2, p276
- ISSN
1527-0904
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3398/064.082.0206