Effects of human activity on woodchuck flight response [Effet de l'activité humaine sur la réponse de fuite chez la marmotte américaine].

Résumé

Research indicates that when exposed to high levels of human activity, many species become tolerant of people. We compared two populations of woodchucks, Marmota monax, exposed to different levels of human activity to see if the two populations reacted differently when we approached them. We predicted woodchucks exposed to higher levels of human activity would be more tolerant of an approaching human than woodchucks exposed to lower levels of human activity. We approached individual woodchucks and measured the distance between the woodchuck andthe walker when the animal showed certain behaviors. We measured alert, vigilant, run and submerge distances. We also measured the time that individuals remained completely submerged within a burrow. Woodchucks exposed to lower levels of human activity had greater alert distances and longer re-emerge times than woodchucks exposed to higher levels of human activity. These findings supported our prediction and indicate that woodchucks habituate to human activity. Animals with the ability to habituate to humans may survive more successfully in today'sincreasingly human-dominated landscape.