Fear in animals: a meta-analysis and review of risk assessment
The amount of risk animals perceive in a given circumstance (i.e. their degree of ‘fear’) is a difficult motivational state to study. While many studies have used flight initiation distance as a proxy for fearfulness and examined the factors influencing the decision to flee, there is no general understanding of the relative importance of these […]
Anti-predator response to raptor calls in wild crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos hesperis
Studies of anti-predator adaptations typically focus on behavioural tactics such as vigilance, alarm calling and mobbing. Less information is available regarding the sorts of environmental cues available to prey for detecting predators, together with the design features of the sensory mechanisms facilitating detection and recognition. Several recent studies, however, have indicated that prey are capable […]
Condition-dependent physiological and behavioural responses to anthropogenic noise
Anthropogenic (man-made) noise, a global pollutant of international concern, is known to affect the physiology and behaviour of a range of organisms. However, experimental studies have tended to focus on trait means; intra-population variation in responses are likely, but have rarely been explored. Here we use established experimental methods to demonstrate a condition-dependent effect of […]