Behavioral correlations across multiple stages of the antipredator
response: do animals that escape more readily also hide longer?
Abstract
While numerous studies have examined either initial prey responses to an
approaching predator (flight initiation distance, FID), or subsequent
hiding behavior (e.g. latency to resume activity), to our knowledge, no
previous studies have repeatedly tested multiple individuals in nature,
to quantify whether both FIDs and latencies to resume activity are
repeatable, and whether these two stages of the antipredator response
are positively correlated. This correlation is ecologically important in
that opportunity costs of predator avoidance are particularly large if
the same individuals tend to both escape more readily and hide longer.
Here, we examined California ground squirrels’ (Otospermophilus
beecheyi) responses to human approach, and provided the first example
showing that, as predicted: FIDs, latencies to resume activity, and
other aspects of prey responses post-FID were repeatable and positively
correlated. Interestingly, we also found that across a gradient of human
activity, squirrels in areas with higher human activity were generally
bolder.