![]() Understanding how individuals perceive and react towards predators is even more important for endangered species for which the anti-predatory strategies are not well understood, which jeopardizes their conservation (Berger et al. In guppies ( Poecilia reticulata) for instance, individuals approaching their natural predator are less at risk of being attacked than their non-approaching conspecifics. Additionally, understanding the inter-individual variations in the response to predation cues has gained interest in the past decades, given the fitness consequences of such variations. Investigating the use of these tactics by a broad diversity of species has been at the base of many studies in behavioural ecology. It is generally considered that animals display an offensive response only if freezing or fleeing is not a viable option. fleeing, predator/area avoidance, decreased locomotion and foraging activity or increased vigilance), or more rarely, offensive (the prey species attack or mob the predator). Depending on the perceived risk, animals will freeze (to avoid being spotted by the predator) or display responses that can be characterized as defensive (i.e. ![]() When exposed to a predation cue, prey species generally display a risk-assessment phase. Predation is a strong selective force that has led prey species to evolve behavioural strategies to minimize predation risk. The funders did not participate in the study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: The data are made available through the supplementary material.įunding: This work was supported by the European Commission ( ), grant number: LIFE12 BIO/FR/000979. Received: MaAccepted: DecemPublished: January 14, 2019Ĭopyright: © 2019 Tissier et al. Hemmi, University of Western Australia, AUSTRALIA Testing the efficacy of the APT, a device that will allow upgrading wildlife underpasses for the hamster and other rodents, is also of great importance and is instrumental in conservation efforts for these species.Ĭitation: Tissier ML, Bousquet CAH, Fleitz J, Habold C, Petit O, Handrich Y (2019) Captive-reared European hamsters follow an offensive strategy during risk-assessment. Our study provides important insights into the anti-predator behaviour of hamsters. After risk assessment, however, hamsters used the APT as a refuge. Taken together, our results show that captive-reared hamsters are still able to detect and react to predation cues, but that they initially adopt an offensive strategy (grunting, spitting, mobbing) during the risk-assessment phase. Finally, when exposed to a mobile ferret (but without physical contact), hamsters displayed mobbing and aggressive behaviours towards the ferret, before taking refuge inside the APT. Furthermore, they did not take refuge inside an anti-predation tube (APT), a device designed to upgrade wildlife underpasses and reconnect wild hamster populations. ![]() In a second experiment, during which hamsters were exposed to a non-mobile European ferret (inside a cage), hamsters significantly increased the time spent close to the ferret’s cage and displayed aggressive behaviour towards the ferret. When first exposed to the urine of cats and goats in a Y-maze test, hamsters spent more time close to the cat scent rather than to the goat scent. Here, we explore the predator discrimination behaviour of captive-reared European hamsters and their response to different predation cues. Despite this, the anti-predator strategy of hamsters and their ability to maintain predator discrimination in captivity remain to be investigated. The endangered European hamster benefits from conservation programs throughout Europe, in which several thousand individuals are released into the wild every year. Understanding whether captive-reared animals destined to reintroduction are still able to discriminate predators has important implications for conservation biology.
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