Travaini Alejandro, Vassallo Aldo Iván, García Germán Oscar, Echeverría Alejandra Isabel, Zapata Sonia Cristina, Nielsen Sigrid
Centro de Investigaciones Puerto Deseado, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, Av. Prefectura Naval S/N, 9050 Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Behav Processes. 2013 Jan;92:79-87. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2012.10.008. Epub 2012 Oct 30.
An alternative approach to increase the efficiency of predator control and selectivity is to consider the natural behavioural repertoire of the target species and how such behaviours may increase their vulnerability. Neophobia, or the hesitancy to approach a novel food item, object, or place, is an important factor influencing the investigative behaviour of animals, and its incorporation to predator control techniques may help to reduce losses of livestock to predators. In this study, we simultaneously evaluated the existence and intensity of neophobic responses in two sympatric fox species, the Culpeo (Pseudalopex culpaeus) and the Grey (P. griseus) foxes in southern Patagonia, Argentina. For this purpose, we used bait stations to compare fox behavioural responses in the absence (pre-treatment), presence (treatment) and removal (post-treatment) of a novel stimulus, which consisted of an orange PVC-traffic cone. Both fox species showed a neophobic response: bait-station visitation rates decreased (P=0.005 and P=0.048, for Culpeo and Grey foxes, respectively) in the presence of the novel object. The intensity of the response differed between species being higher for Culpeo foxes (approximately 80% of reduction in visitation rate during treatment for Culpeo foxes vs. 10% for Grey foxes). However, the bait-station visitation pattern after novel object removal indicated that animals probably increased exploration of the station. The high level of neophobia achieved by the Culpeo fox, together with an increase in post-treatment site exploration, suggests that behavioural manipulations (reduction of neophobia and its consequent increase in risk taking) could improve selective and efficient fox control in rural areas where livestock production is a major economic activity.
提高捕食者控制效率和选择性的另一种方法是考虑目标物种的自然行为模式，以及这些行为如何可能增加它们的易受伤害性。新物恐惧症，即对新的食物、物体或地点接近时的犹豫，是影响动物探究行为的一个重要因素，将其纳入捕食者控制技术可能有助于减少牲畜被捕食者捕食的损失。在本研究中，我们同时评估了阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚南部两种同域分布的狐狸物种—— Culpeo狐（Pseudalopex culpaeus）和灰狐（P. griseus）新物恐惧反应的存在情况和强度。为此，我们使用诱饵站来比较狐狸在不存在（预处理）、存在（处理）和移除（后处理）一种新刺激物（由橙色PVC交通锥组成）时的行为反应。两种狐狸都表现出新物恐惧反应：在新物体存在时，诱饵站的访问率下降（Culpeo狐和灰狐的P值分别为0.005和0.048）。物种之间的反应强度不同，Culpeo狐的反应更强（Culpeo狐在处理期间访问率下降约80%，而灰狐为10%）。然而，新物体移除后诱饵站的访问模式表明，动物可能增加了对诱饵站的探索。Culpeo狐表现出的高度新物恐惧症，加上后处理阶段对场地探索的增加，表明行为操纵（减少新物恐惧症及其随之而来的冒险行为增加）可以改善在以畜牧生产为主要经济活动的农村地区对狐狸进行选择性和高效的控制。
