6/8 What’s the cost of this fear-based behavioural shift?
More energy spent on movement and less time spent socializing means potential hits to group cohesion & reproduction. And more time in farm fields leads to more conflict with people.
Without tree cover, langurs were more exposed and had less opportunity to escape. In these areas especially, they increased feeding & movement but socialized even less. All successful dog attacks in the study happened in these open agricultural fields.
It's the same story. When people were nearby, langurs also fed and moved more and socialized less. Why? Because humans often react negatively to crop-foraging langurs (throwing stones, making loud noises, and even using poison).
In the presence of dogs, langurs: -Moved more -Ate more -Socialized less These changes are adaptive responses to perceived predation risk in a classic “landscape of fear.”
2/8 In the Mandal Valley of India 🌄 Researchers observed a group of langurs for 3912 hours over 2 years. These langurs live in a fragmented agro-forest landscape, often foraging on crops near humans and encountering free-ranging dogs, one of their primary predators.
1/8 Ever wonder how feral dogs impact wild primates? 🐶🐒 A new study explores how the Central Himalayan Langur (Semnopithecus schistaceus) (CHL) changes its behavior when navigating a “landscape of fear” shaped by both humans and predatory dogs. Let’s make a thread. 🧵
