期刊
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
卷 3, 期 1, 页码 -出版社
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01156-0
关键词
-
资金
- Cleveland Metro Parks Zoo
- Australian government Postgraduate Award
- Taronga Conservation Society Australia
Radford et al. monitored cattle marked with artificial eyespots in non-commercial cattle farms in northern Botswana, and demonstrate that cattle with these eyespot markings were more likely to avoid predation by large carnivores. Their findings have applications as a cost-effective tool to reduce livestock predation by ambush predators. Eyespots evolved independently in many taxa as anti-predator signals. There remains debate regarding whether eyespots function as diversion targets, predator mimics, conspicuous startling signals, deceptive detection, or a combination. Although eye patterns and gaze modify human behaviour, anti-predator eyespots do not occur naturally in contemporary mammals. Here we show that eyespots painted on cattle rumps were associated with reduced attacks by ambush carnivores (lions and leopards). Cattle painted with eyespots were significantly more likely to survive than were cross-marked and unmarked cattle, despite all treatment groups being similarly exposed to predation risk. While higher survival of eyespot-painted cattle supports the detection hypothesis, increased survival of cross-marked cattle suggests an effect of novel and conspicuous marks more generally. To our knowledge, this is the first time eyespots have been shown to deter large mammalian predators. Applying artificial marks to high-value livestock may therefore represent a cost-effective tool to reduce livestock predation.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据