Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Predators affect prey’s behaviour which can lead preys to change their spatial use of the habitat, creating a landscape of fear. This is not generally the case for white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), which as megaherbivores (<1000 kg) are relatively invulnerable to non-human predators. However, due to poaching, rhinos are exposed to a human predation pressure, which would be expected to create a landscape of fear. It is uncertain if rhinos recognize human predator and, if they do, it is unknown whether they exhibit successful anti-predator responses to human predation risk or not. In this study, I conducted a landscape-scale playback experiment testing if rhinos exhibited different anti-predator responses when they were exposed to non-threatening sounds (i.e. control sounds) and several threatening sounds (i.e. lion, human voices and gunshots). I evaluated whether rhino showed anti-predator responses to different simulated risk sounds. In addition, I tested whether rhino anti-predator responses to those sounds were stronger in high poaching intensity areas. The experiment showed that rhinos ran from all sounds that simulated risk, responded defensively from gunshot and lion sounds and increased vigilance for human voices and lion sounds. However, the strength of their responses did not increase with poaching intensity. The results of this study could be useful for implementing management anti-poaching strategies in the future.