![]() Then they played these scary sounds to wild animals using a speaker connected to a camera trap. They used short-range sounds like snarls and growls rather than roars so they could simulate a predator being close by. To test ungulates’ fear responses to different predators, the scientists first collected sound recordings of lions, cheetahs and African wild dogs, as well as bird calls to use as a non-scary control treatment. ![]() She adds that, “this can then affect the population numbers of the prey and have effects on their food further down the food chain.” “You can see that if they have different fear responses, that affects their foraging behavior,” Zanette says. According to Liana Zanette, a coauthor of the study and wildlife ecologist at Canada’s Western University, this “hierarchy of fear” is important because fear affects every aspect of a prey animal’s behavior, and can have rippling effects throughout the ecosystem. That’s the key finding of a recent study in Behavioral Ecology in which researchers report that ungulates run away from lions most often, followed by African wild dogs, and then cheetahs. Many South African ungulates, or hooved animals, have different fear-induced responses depending on what predator is nearby. ![]() ![]() But an hour later, if it hears a cheetah instead, the herbivore will often just keep drinking water, unperturbed by the potential predator nearby. So when it hears the sound of a snarling lion, the reddish-brown African antelope will often bolt for safety. When an impala stops at a watering hole for a quick drink, it’s already on the lookout for predators. ![]()
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