None of the animals in the experiment changed their behavior or reacted in any noticeable way to the sound of tree frogs. Both mice and woodrats increased their foraging activities by 17% compared to times when human voices weren’t playing, according to the study. Deer mice expanded their range by 45% when people were heard talking in the forest. The opposite happened with mice and rats. ![]() “As it turns out humans are sufficiently scary that it was better to be more cautious and avoid a risky human encounter.” “All three of the meso predators were behaviorally suppressed by the presence of humans,” Suraci said. ![]() All the medium-sized carnivores were detected less on camera at feed stations when the human voices were within earshot. “They slowed down their movement speed, which we interpreted as increased caution.”īobcats reduced their daytime activity by 31%, skunk activity decreased 40%and opossums foraged 66% less when people were talking. “They both avoided the grid and changed their behavior,” said Justin Suraci, a post doctoral student in Wilmers’ lab and the lead author of the study. The cougars increased their distance from the nearest speaker by 29% and were detected inside the test areas 30% less often when human voices were being broadcast. The seven mountain lions they observed changed their behavior dramatically when the human voices were playing, becoming more cautious and avoiding the area where they perceived there was a human presence. This bobcat was caught on camera during the UC Santa Cruz study showing the level of fear predators display when human voices are heard in the area. The researchers then compared the behavior and responses of the various animals. ![]() 31, 2017, the speakers alternated broadcasts of human voices and Pacific tree frog vocalizations for five weeks each, with long silences in between. There were about 200 meters between each speaker.īetween May 29 and Aug. ![]() Twenty-five speakers were spaced evenly in five rows of five in each of the two square-kilometer grids, one inside the Sierra Azul Preserve, just south of Los Gatos, and the other in the San Vicente Redwoods, east of the coastal town of Davenport. This time Wilmers wanted to find out the wider impact of the human presence, so his research team selected two remote locations closed to the public that some of the more than 40 cougars fitted with GPS and radio telemetry collars are known to frequent. Rats and mice, on the other hand, actually forage more in areas where homo sapien voices are heard, probably because they know fewer rodent-eating predators are around, the UC Santa Cruz study concluded. The presence of people in remote areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains turns mountain lions into veritable fraidy-cats and strikes so much fear in bobcats, skunks and opossums that they change their behavior to avoid detection, a new study has found. Aric Crabb / Courtesy Aric Crabb Show More Show Less 4 of4 North American Cougar (Puma concolor couguar) female approaching with male sitting on far right, Aptos, Monterey Bay, California Sebastian Kennerknecht / Courtesy Sebastian Kennerknecht Show More Show Less Paul Houghtaling/UC Santa Cruz Show More Show Less 3 of4 This mountain lion was caught on camera during the UC Santa Cruz study showing the level of fear predators display when humans are around. 1 of4 North American Cougar (Puma concolor couguar) sub-adult female walking at night, Aptos, Monterey Bay, California Sebastian Kennerknecht Show More Show Less 2 of4 This mountain lion was caught on camera during the UC Santa Cruz study showing the level of fear predators display when human voices are heard in the area.
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