PSYO 2160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Learning, Extreme Weather, Habituation
3 May 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
Conflict or Coexistence?
November 16, 2015
*Guest lecture
Species of Cats that attack:
• Tigers
• Leopards
• Cougars
Species of Dogs that attack:
• Coyotes
• Wolves
*all types of bears will attack and even spotted hyenas
Narrow focus: carnivore attacks
Nature of Conflict
• Type (human-wildlife, human-human, wildlife-human)
• Predation on humans: it is an aberration?
o Humans can live in threat to predation
o Threat increases with sickness
o May be attributed to individual
• Types of attacks: provoked or unprovoked
o Could be provoked by humans
o Black bears are more likely to attack off trail than on a trail (startled)
o Humans have little impact on outcome for a fight with predator
o Could be based on proximity
o Hard to rely on reports – may not include provoking behaviour
o Ex. Photographer got too close to grizzly bears (& they ate him)
• Risk perceptions and conflict
o 53 cougar attacks – 9 deaths a year
o Dogs attack thousands each year – 20 deaths in US
o People may perceive risk differently based on perception
• Habituation, attraction & associative learning
o Wildlife habituation: a process whereby wildlife gradually lose their tendency to avoid
people
o Wildlife attraction: positive association with humans
o Associative learning: wildlife may begin to associate attractants (ex. Food) with people
• Ecological factors may contribute to attacks
o Unavailable resources
o Anthropogenic – scarce/fragmented habitats
o Extreme weather (drought) – drought caused lions attacks to rise from 7 to 40/year
o Proportions of young and mature individuals – young are easier to attack
o Poverty can increase probability of a lion attack
▪ Same with illness
o
• Methods to address conflict
o Create reserves/ conserved areas
o Lethal control methods:
▪ How selective is selective removal?
• Depends on species, territories, etc
• Works less in social animals
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