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“Predator boot camps” in Australia teach once-abundant mammals to fear predators

scientificamerican.com

21–26 of 26 posts

Re: “Predator boot camps” in Australia teach once-abundant mammals to fear predators

#21

I’m curious if this is nurtured behavior or behavior devolped through an evolutionary process, or both. This reminds me of the fox domestication experiment in Siberia in the 40’s. Researchers bred foxes, kept all the ones that didn’t show as many signs of being afraid of humans, then subsequently bred those ones again (the rest were turned into furs to fund the research.) This process is kind of like that, but in rev…

similar to that foxes experiment, i think instead of just teaching bettongs to fear they should have just selectively bred those bettongs who is naturally most fearful. Giving the short lifespan and that such selective breeding would take only a few generations, in several years they would have a population of bettongs genetically wired to fear the predators and thus much better fit for survival in the current conditions.

Re: “Predator boot camps” in Australia teach once-abundant mammals to fear predators

#22
post #8

Seems like pointless temporary exercise not even based in science. Even if you "teach" the current batch of rodents to be afraid of cats, how will their offspring be afraid of cats if they aren't naturally inclined to be fearful of predators? The way prey behavior is developed in nature is through evolution. In a batch of animals, there are mutations that cause a small portion of them to be naturally antsy, cautious…

You say that as if removing feral cats and other non-native predators is "simple".

It's far simpler than having to teach all the prey animals ( from rodents, to birds, to snakes, to reptiles, etc ) to learn a behavior.

It's not like we don't have experience wiping out animals before. The only reason it isn't done is because the naive minded will cry about the poor cats.

Re: “Predator boot camps” in Australia teach once-abundant mammals to fear predators

#24
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that as if removing feral cats and other non-native predators is "simple".

It's far simpler than having to teach all the prey animals ( from rodents, to birds, to snakes, to reptiles, etc ) to learn a behavior. It's not like we don't have experience wiping out animals before. The only reason it isn't done is because the naive minded will cry about the poor cats.

Removing feral animals is difficult, especially cats, see:

http://www.australianwildlife.org/field-programs/feral-cat-r...

So it is being done, however, to truly remove cats, it needs to be done in an fenced off areas(or islands). Fence maintenance is ongoing and expensive, plus Australia is a big place:

http://world.bymap.org/LandArea.html

While the AWC approach is effective, it will take decades and huge investment to scale out across the continent.

If small scale experiments like the article describes show promise, it might provide cheaper and faster methods for mitigation (not elimination) of the impact of feral animal predation on native marsupial populations. Hopefully enough to keep the marsupial populations viable in more areas.

Sometimes fencing an eradication are not effective tools for feral animal removal.

Eradication and containment efforts for preventing the spread of cane toads (another introduced species gone feral in Australia) have proven ineffective despite significant investment and effort. This is largely due to cane toads being able to move great distances during the wet season when large areas of northern Australia are flooded and their ability to breed in great numbers.

Research into training quolls to avoid eating cane toads by feeding them cane toad sausages with small amounts of a nausea inducing agent have show promise. Enough to make them unwell, but not kill them.

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017...

http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Aussie-Authorities-Expand-Ca...

I have done off-track hikes through the Kimberley region in Western Australia over the past few years. Cane toads reached the Manning River (central Kimberley) a couple of years ago. On this years hike there was a noticeable decrease in the numbers of native animals (fresh water crocodiles, snakes, long-necked turtles, goannas, fish etc - we don't tend to see many marsupials as they tend to be noturnal) in the Manning River region.

As eradication and containment are ineffective tools for cane toad management, I'd say any research into alternative programs for improving long term native animal survival against feral predation/impact is a good idea.

Re: “Predator boot camps” in Australia teach once-abundant mammals to fear predators

#26
post #19
post #8

Seems like pointless temporary exercise not even based in science. Even if you "teach" the current batch of rodents to be afraid of cats, how will their offspring be afraid of cats if they aren't naturally inclined to be fearful of predators? The way prey behavior is developed in nature is through evolution. In a batch of animals, there are mutations that cause a small portion of them to be naturally antsy, cautious…

Why isn't this based on science? These are people who work in animal behavior. If you traumatize an animal (including humans) it can change that creature's behavior, and affect their behavior in child rearing. Like you said, the creatures don't have time to evolve these traits to a genetic predisposition because of how quickly the predators were introduced. >>Isn't the simple and obvious solution here is to remove fe…

I've heard of herding cats. Have you heard... bird is the word.

TGIF :D

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