Risk perception of vervet monkeys <i>Chlorocebus pygerythrus</i> to humans in urban and rural environments

Mikula, Peter, Saffa, Gabriel, Nelson, Emma ORCID: 0000-0002-6302-3352 and Tryjanowski, Piotr (2018) Risk perception of vervet monkeys <i>Chlorocebus pygerythrus</i> to humans in urban and rural environments. BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES, 147. pp. 21-27.

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Abstract

Like other animals, primates respond to predation using behavioural adaptations. Hence, they should optimise their escape strategy under the risk of predation, and flee at a distance, referred to as flight initiation distance (FID), when the fitness-related benefits of staying are balanced against the costs of escape. However, there is an absence of FID studies in primates. In this study, we used vervet monkeys Chlorocebus pygerythrus, a medium-sized African cercopithecoid, as a model species to investigate the influence of environment type (urban and rural), group size (defined as the number of visible neighbours), sex and age on FID when approached by a human. We found significantly shorter FID among urban than rural monkeys; urban individuals delayed their escape compared to rural individuals. We found no relationship between FID and sex and age class, but FID was positively correlated with group size in both settings; urban monkeys live in smaller groups than monkeys in rural areas. As FID and group size are important predictors of predation risk perception in primates, results suggest that, despite probable effects of habituation, vervet monkeys in Uganda adjust their antipredator behaviour when coping with novel environments within human settlements. Our findings are consistent with some previous studies of risk perception in animals, and indicate that FID could be used as an alternative measure for predation risk in primates.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Risk perception of vervet monkeys Chlorocebus pygerythrus to humans in urban and rural environments journaltitle: Behavioural Processes articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.011 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Animals, Humans, Adaptation, Psychological, Predatory Behavior, Escape Reaction, Rural Population, Urban Population, Female, Male, Chlorocebus aethiops
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	24 Aug 2018 13:31
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2023 09:55
DOI:	10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.011
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3025505