Page 329 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

12.10 Training Black‐tailed Prairie Dogs to Avoid Predators 301

How successful was the training long term?
VetBooks.ir provides strong evidence that the trained bil- Visual counts of the tracks made by the
bies associated the disturbance with danger.
Armed with these encouraging results,
wild bilbies were also trained to avoid preda- bilbies in the sand suggested that the popula-
tion remained stable for 12 months.
tors, and both wild trained and untrained bil- Encouragingly, females reproduced, and the
bies were reintroduced to the unfenced ‘Wild abundance of juvenile bilbies increased up
West’ where predatory feral cats and foxes until May 2008, when the population
were present. Over three consecutive nights suddenly declined, coincident with a major
in August 2007, researchers captured 20 bilbies drought. Unfortunately, cat tracks were
within the predator‐proof reserve. Trained found around juvenile bilby burrows, sug-
animals (n = 10) were captured in nets and gesting that cats had contributed to their
trained as described above, but without the demise, potentially because the cats’ other
reinforcement test. Control animals (n = 10) major food source (rabbits) had crashed with
were captured in nets and burrow traps. All the onset of the drought. Sadly, the last bilby
the animals were fitted with radio‐transmit- tracks were observed 19 months after the ini-
ters and located every day by a team on quad tial reintroduction in January 2009 (Moseby
bikes, and occasionally, from light aircraft. et al. 2011). The study showed that whilst it is
Keeping track of the locations of 20 free possible to train adult female bilbies to avoid
ranging marsupials is a huge effort, and novel predators, this behaviour was not
requires a dedicated team. After four months, transmitted to their offspring, apparently
the researchers located the burrows occu- because the young bilbies do not forage with
pied by the control and trained bilbies. At their mothers after leaving the safety of the
dusk, they simulated a predator attack by pouch (Moseby et al. 2012). Alternatively, the
digging around the burrow with a hoe for drought probably reduced plant cover to
three minutes in the presence of the cat spray. such an extent that the bilbies probably had
The idea here was to see whether the bilbies nowhere to hide whilst foraging. Feral cats
would move away from the disturbed burrow. are ambush hunters that often specialise on
The bilby predator training results were one prey type, so without cover, the bilbies
encouraging, but they highlight the difficul- were likely outgunned by a superior hunter.
ties associated with conserving marsupials in
Australia. Six months after the bilbies were
introduced to the Wild West zone, only one 12.10 Training Black‐tailed
control bilby had been killed by a feral cat, Prairie Dogs to Avoid Predators
and only one trained bilby had been killed (or
possibly scavenged) by a wedge‐tailed eagle In many animals, social learning is important
(Moseby et al. 2012). By contrast, when for the development of foraging skills, social
untrained bilbies were released to the Wild behaviours, and antipredator behaviours.
West zone in 2004, six of seven bilbies were Young animals often learn about predators
killed by cats within 25 days of release whilst in the company of parents, family
(Moseby et al. 2011). Interestingly, there was groups, or conspecifics (Curio 1993).
no difference in burrow use of trained and Animals can learn by observing a conspecific
control bilbies in the 2007 study, suggesting responding to a stimulus (observational
that the control animals may have acquired learning) or an experienced conspecific can
predator avoidance behaviour by observing indirectly focus the attention of the young
the behaviour of conspecifics after exposure animal to the stimulus (local enhancement).
to odour cues of cats (Moseby et al. 2012). The ability of offspring to learn antipredator
This ‘cultural acquisition’ of antipredator behaviours from parents, siblings or conspe-
behaviour has been demonstrated in birds cifics will depend on the period of parental
and mammals (Griffin 2004). care, and the size of the group in which they