Risk-taking, temperament and vigilance behaviour in alpine marmota (Marmota marmota) [Prise de risque, tempérament et comportement de vigilance chez les marmottes alpines (Marmota marmota)].

Résumé

Predation acts one of the most important pressure on wild population promoting evolution of different strategies that allow animals to cope with predation risk; by this assumption and seeing that individual temperament is playing a central role in several studies about animals’ ecology, we study if individuals with different behavioural profiles vary in the degree of risk they take during their foraging activities and how can an individual adjust its antipredator strategy with difference degree of risk. Individuals of Alpine marmots represent a good model to study this question because they used to forage around their burrows and vigilance through frequent scanning of the territory surrounding where they have burrows entrance. Furthermore the work-area (Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy) presents two main species of marmots’ natural predators, Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and Fox (Vulpes vulpes). I want to evaluate if results from open field test and hormonal analysis are consistent with antipredator strategy carried out in the field by each individual, and understand how variation in the level of risk taken can be adjusted and maintained between individuals studying frequency and length of vigilance events.